Gifted meets Gifted
by Pretender Fanatic
Summary: Ninja Turtle Pretender Crossover Kara finds out that she and Jarod are not all that different compared to some people... or things [Sequel to Wolf] [FINISHED!]
1. Who says I'm different

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it I swear! (I do own a lot of TMNT [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles} stuff though *starts to list the stuff* fuzzy posters, puzzles, blankies, figurines, dvds... and the list goes on believe me!) I do not own the characters though. Takara is mine though and if you want to use her you have to ask.   
  
A/N OK this is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/ Pretender crossover, BUT! Before you x out of this because it is a crossover where you don't know the other show, let me tell you! You DO NOT need to know ANYTHING about TMNT to read this story and enjoy it. See cuz Jarod and Kara still have to meet the turtles so when Jarod and Kara find out about them you will find out about them, get it? Okay, good, now on with the story. (Please review, you can even make up a silly name if you want to , I promise I am not a cyber stocker) Oh, and also the purple dragons is a gang on the streets of New York- the turtles kinda fight with them once in awhile. And... and... and this is the sequel to 'Wolf' so read that one first! (Okay, I'm done)   
  
P.S. Ok, so I'm not done. Just to let you guys know, I am using the cartoons for this story, not the turtles from the actual movies.   
  
10:00 pm  
  
Run down apartment building  
  
New York, New York  
  
"You are so lucky Kara. You are practically already ready for this pretend. You don't have to change at all," Jarod complained as he put in a pair of purple contacts. He was looking snazzy in his black muscle shirt and his leather jacket (that he had sadly ripped the arms off of) that he had added chains to earlier that day. He looked in the mirror to make sure that the gel he had put in his hair was still holding his hair in huge spike formations. Then he turned and picked up a small heavy steel earring, took a deep breath, and shoved it through his left ear.  
  
"You know, they make little guns to put those holes in your ears for you," said Kara, sitting Indian style on her bed.   
  
"Huh. Yeah, well, I don't want a hole in my ear permanently, just for a while. In other words... I want it to heal."  
  
Kara laughed. She didn't have worry about spiking or styling her hair seeing as with her mutation her hair stopped growing after an inch or two, and it was naturally spiky. She didn't have to worry about contacts either; her eyes were already yellow.   
  
"You could pass as a gangster any day of the week no matter what pretend you were doing," Kara teased.  
  
The day before Jarod had gone out and bought Kara some pants and shirts that were at least three sizes too big. He had torn off the bottoms, ripped some holes in them, and had made sure to forget to add the hem.  
  
Jarod chuckled. "Well at least I don't have to worry about them discovering that I really don't have yellow eyes."   
  
"Ok, so who are you?" Kara asked.   
  
This was one of Jarod's favorite things to do before they went on a pretend together. They would question each other on who they were and why they were there.   
  
"I am Waff. No last name, just Waff. None of your business how I got here. My last gang got busted. I gave the cops the slip and came to New York. The cops won't be looking for me. The gang won't rat me out. Now who are you?"  
  
"I'm Jay. My brother got killed in a turf war and now I'm out to get revenge on the Hounds that killed 'im. Did you read that book on street fighting?"  
  
"Yeah," Kara said. "I will act like I want to start fights but I will not actually start one unless it is for a good reason. If my initiation is to kill someone or rob someone then rob the store and we will pay them back ten fold later on, or tell the victim that I am an undercover cop's kid and to play along."  
  
"Good, now remember that we are looking for April O'neil and the purple dragons want to kill her because she has caused them trouble. Keep your eyes peeled for any information about it. I will go in first you can follow me two hours later. Got it?"   
  
"Yeah, got it."  
  
  
  
Two hours later  
  
Down Town  
  
New York, New York  
  
"You want to be in this gang right? Well all you have to do is go in that there shop and steal some real nice stuff. Then if ya get out without da cops on ya tail then you're in. Got it?"  
  
"Yeah I got it," said Kara in her equally rough tone that she had been practicing all week. She let a little bit of her hunting mood show to make her appear more dangerous. (And boy did it make her look dangerous.)   
  
Kara slipped into the store. She looked around for a burglar alarm and found one on the wall to her right. Then she looked round for the motion detectors. She had removed the glass in a window to get in. She saw a motion detector in the far-left corner and a light sensory detector right beside her. She jumped over the light detector and wiggled along the ground until she got to the motion detector where upon she stood underneath it and disarmed it. She went over to the jewelry case and picked the lock. She then grabbed some of the mediocre stuff, and climbed back out the window.  
  
"I told you to grab the good stuff!"   
  
"Yeah, and if I grabbed the really good stuff you wouldn't be able ta sell it cuz everybody would know it was stolen."  
  
"Huh. Whatever. You're in. We need another lock picker any way."  
  
Kara flashed a cynical smile. "Told ya I was versatile"  
  
Two hours before  
  
Central Park  
  
New York, New York  
  
Jarod was going through much of what Kara had to endure, but worse.  
  
Much worse.  
  
"We don't know much about Miss O'Neil. All we know is that most of our problems led back to her. Find out as much as you can about her. Report back to us and if the info is good you're in. If it's not, your dead."   
  
Jarod had started to walk back to the apartment. He was crossing a street when he saw her. April O'Neil, the woman that the Purple Dragons wanted to kill. He decided to follow her. If he knew where she went, then it would be easier to protect her.   
  
He had almost lost her a few times along the way but Jarod had managed to keep pace with this lady. She was constantly looking around to make sure that no one was watching her, so Jarod had to hide a few times, but finally she stopped and turned into an alley. Completely puzzled, Jarod followed her. He turned the corner just in time to see a manhole cover being replaced. What the heck? He waited a few minutes, then went over to the manhole cover and lifted it. He slid down the ladder and landed lightly on a ledge just slightly above the sewer water.   
  
He had been following April for a little over an hour now and they had been in the sewers for at least twenty minutes. Suddenly, April went up to a wall and pushed a cloth aside. She through and was gone. Jarod was about to follow her when he heard talking, and so he snuck closer to understand what was being said.   
  
"Hey Ape, what's up?"  
  
"Yeah what's up...? Did you bring pizza by any chance?"  
  
"Shut up, Mikey."  
  
"Hey Ape, we were just..."  
  
the conversation stopped abruptly. Jarod, sensing that all was not right, started to back away.  
  
"HE YAH!"  
  
Jarod had enough time to look up and see a green blur right in his face before he was kicked in the head and knocked out.   
  
Two hours later   
  
The Sewers  
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
"So what do we do with him."  
  
"He's obviously a Purple Dragon."   
  
"I say we pound 'im"  
  
"Dude, I think he's wakin up."   
  
"Huh. Keep Ralph away from 'im"  
  
Jarod groaned, the world blurry and out of focus. As soon as his vision had cleared his eyes widened, thinking in the back of his mind that he was seeing things.   
  
"Whoa."  
  
The creature before him laughed. "That's all? 'Whoa'? We usually get a scream or two."   
  
There were four huge turtles in front of Jarod! They all had different weapons shoved in their belts and slung over their backs and they all had different color bandanas with eye slits around their eyes. Jarod looked down to see that he was tied to a chair. There's no way I'm going to be getting out of these knots any time soon, he thought as he looked at the handiwork of the person that had tied him up.   
  
"Haha, told ya he wouldn't scream, Raph."   
  
"Aw, shut up Mikey."   
  
The turtle with the red bandana and two sias shoved in his belt got up in Jarod's face.   
  
"Ok scum, I'm gonna ask you one time before I get nasty. What's your name and which one of the Purple Dragon's sent you?"   
  
Jarod sensed that the Purple Dragons were these guy's enemies and that if he didn't blow his own cover then the creature in front of him would really get "nasty".  
  
"My name is Jarod, and it's not what it looks like. I was only pretending to be a Purple Dragon."  
  
Jarod looked over and saw April in the corner talking to a huge rat. Huh. That's not something you see every day.   
  
"The Purple Dragons are out to kill your friend over there," Jarod continued. "I was pretending to be a Purple Dragon to help her."  
  
Another turtle, this one with a purple mask and a bow slung on his back, stepped forward.  
  
"How do we know you're telling the truth?"  
  
Jarod thought for a moment. How DID they know if he was telling the truth?   
  
"Well, first thing is that you can tell that my ear was just pierced. I also have a bank account set up so that if my friend and I had to rob any place for an initiation we would have been able to pay the victim back."  
  
"What if they told you to kill someone?" Asked the turtle from the back with the blue mask and twin katanas.   
  
"We would have had to fake it. Look, I can't prove to you that I am what I say, but my friend will be worried if she doesn't know where I am. I told her that I would be back awhile ago and it is imperative that we know where the other one is at all times. I need to contact her some how."  
  
The turtle in orange sporting the nunchucks walked over.   
  
"Well, we can bring her down here. I mean, we would have to blindfold her or something."  
  
"Mikey, how can you trust him like that? He could be lying to us."  
  
The turtle with the katanas unsheathed one and cut the ropes that were binding Jarod. "Splinter will know what to do."   
  
Jarod got up and followed the turtles over to where the big rat was sitting.   
  
"Sensei, we have a problem."  
  
Splinter turned to look at Jarod. "So you are awake," He said, looking closely at him.   
  
"Leave us, my sons. There is more to this man than meets the eye."  
  
The turtles all bowed and went into another room where grunts and sounds of fists meeting objects soon followed. Splinter turned back to Jarod.  
  
"Now, I think, we should trade stories."   
  
12:00 pm  
  
Shredder's hide out  
  
New York, New York  
  
"Sir, we have a new recruit to our gang that I think will interest you. He calls himself Jay but you know him as Jarod."   
  
"Leave me. I have business to take care of. You have done well. You there, contact Lyle for me."  
  
  
  
(Conversation via web camera)  
  
"Ah Saki, long time no see."  
  
"Mr. Lyle, I have some information that may interest you."  
  
"Yes, but there is always a price. What do you want for it?"  
  
"You find me the Sword of Taka."  
  
"Ok, done. Now what is it?"  
  
"We have found your escaped Pretender. He is going under the name of Jay in one of my gangs."  
  
Lyle allowed himself a slight smirk. "No doubt that girl is tagging along with him. Follow them. When my men get to New York I'll contact you. If you have both of their locations, then I will get you the sword."  
  
Lyle disconnected the call with a cruel mental chuckle. Months of searching without so much as a clue, and now we've found them. There's no way Jarod or Kara will escape me now.   
  
1:00 am  
  
The turtle's lair.   
  
New York City, New York  
  
"Michelangelo, go get Takara. Jarod will give you directions. Tell her that you are a friend of his and that he wants her to pack up."  
  
Mikey bowed.  
  
"Yes Sensei."   
  
Splinter turned to Jarod, deciding to introduce his sons (who had just come back from their apparent workout).   
  
"This is Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and the one that just left was Michelangelo."   
  
"Haha, yeah I wouldn't get to close to, Raph. He's still mad at you for that whole Purple Dragon thing."   
  
"Shut up, Don."  
  
1:15 am  
  
Jarod's Hide out   
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
Kara growled softly in her sleep as Mikey climbed through the window. He snuck over to her to where she was lying curled up on the coach and was about to shake her when she let out a roar and her right hand shot up to scratch him across his face. With out missing a beat Kara jumped off over the couch to put the piece of furniture between her and the intruder. As the intruder's hand shot up to his face he knocked his hat off. Kara saw his green face.  
  
"Whoa."  
  
"Huh, runs in the family," Michelangelo commented. "That's what Jarod said when he saw me."  
  
"You know where Jarod is then?"  
  
"Yeah, he told me to come and get you to tell you to pack up your stuff and follow me. By the way, the name's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey," the turtle said as he extended his hand.  
  
"I'm Takara, otherwise known as Kara. Sorry about clawing you. It's just that I never really like having people close to me while I was sleeping. One time when Jarod came home late I clawed him right across the chest."   
  
"Huh, well what do you have to pack? Cuz Jarod said to pack up."  
  
Kara started to walk around the apartment picking up things as she went. She got two duffel bags out of the closet and put a laptop in one and pez containers, a Mr. Potato head, and a slinky in the other one. She packed some pictures and what looked like sentimental items in the other. She went over to the bed and pulled out a steel briefcase from under it. Then she went over to the door and picked up her leather jacket.   
  
"Ok, I'm ready to go. Lead the way."  
  
Mikey's eyes widened.   
  
"That's it? That's all your stuff?"  
  
Kara nodded her head, seemingly unfazed by her lack of belongings.  
  
"We didn't stay here long enough to buy anything else. Really I could leave most of this stuff, but chances are Jarod wanted me to bring everything."  
  
Mikey shook his head. "Well, ok. Follow me."  
  
He jumped out the window and was gone. This is going to be fun, Kara thought as she jumped out after him. She followed Mikey down the fire escape and into the alley. He lifted up a manhole cover.  
  
"Ladies first."  
  
Kara jumped down in the sewers with a smile.   
  
"Thanks."  
  
1:20 am   
  
Street outside Jarod's hideout  
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
"Yes sir, I know where they are." 


	2. Down Time

Discalimer: Don't own it, don't own it, don't own it. I do own Takara though. She is all mine. Mine, mine, mine!  
  
  
  
6:00 am The Next day  
  
The turtle's lair  
  
The Sewers  
  
New York, New York   
  
Jarod awoke to sounds of fighting.   
  
"So much for sleeping in," he mumbled to himself as he got out of bed. Naturally, Kara was already up. Jarod shuffled into the dojo where the guys where working out. To Jarod it looked like they all got into one heck of a fight, and Kara was watching in awe. Splinter called for a halt and the guys walked over to where Kara was sitting.   
  
"That is amazing!" Said Kara still agog.  
  
"We could teach you," offered the blue masked, katana wielding, Leo. "It may take a lifetime, but we could teach you."  
  
Kara grinned. "Obviously Jarod did not fill you guys in on our story."  
  
"Nah, he only told Master Splinter... why don't you tell us?" Asked Mikey, the orange nunchuck fighter.   
  
"Well the short version of it is... We are Pretenders, geniuses with the ability to become anybody we want to be. In 1963 a corporation know as The Center isolated a young pretender named Jarod, and exploited his genius for their research. Then one day their pretender ran away. 5 years later I was discovered by The Center as a pretender. They kidnapped me and injected me with wolf chromosomes. In order for my body to adapt I began to mutate. Jarod came and rescued my friends and I, who were also being held for research. The Center had killed my mom when I was kidnapped and my dad was killed in a drive by shooting before I was born, so I traveled with Jarod. Five months later, here we are."  
  
Mikey scratched his head. "So that has to do with you learning ninjitsu how?"  
  
Donny, the purple bow carrier, knocked on Mikey's head  
  
"Dude, genius, duh!"   
  
Kara giggled. "So what is your guy's story?"  
  
Leo volunteered to tell their life story.   
  
"We were once ordinary turtles with an ordinary child owner but one day while he was crossing the street with us in a glass jar, a blind man walked out into the road right in front of a big truck. Our owner's brother went to help the man but he knocked us out of the boy's hands in the process. We fell down into the sewers and in attempt to keep from hitting the blind man the truck swerved and a canister of ooze fell out of the back. We were drenched in the ooze. Splinter, who was an ordinary rat back then, found us and took us to his sewer home. The next day we all woke up bigger. Apparently the ooze not only made us bigger, but also smarter and more agile. Splinter trained us in ninjitsu and here we are today."  
  
"Hum, we aren't all that different then," said Kara.   
  
"When do you want to start to learn ninjitsu?" Asked Leo  
  
"Well if you guys are done with your training now would be fine."  
  
Mikey smiled and got up. "Well, we can start off with this."  
  
He jumped in the air and did a back flip, and then, landing in the same place where he started, he kicked both legs in the air in a roundhouse formation and landing on his right foot he kicked straight out one more time with his left foot.   
  
"Mikey, I think that's a little too..."   
  
Before Donny could say anymore. Kara had jumped off the ledge and did a back flip and then in slow mo, as if she were thinking hard about it, she did a roundhouse with both feet then she kicked out with her left foot.  
  
"Something like that?"  
  
Mikey nodded his head in disbelief. "Yeah, something like that."  
  
Raph took out one of his sai. "I think she can skip basic training. Come at me. I want to see how much you already know."  
  
"I don't know much, only what I read in the book Jarod gave me about street fighting. I am mostly flight, not fight. The only way I could do that move was cuz Mikey showed me."  
  
Raph laughed as he put his sai back in his belt. "Ok then, I won't use a weapon. Now come at me."   
  
Kara stood there for a moment as if deep in thought, then she came up to Raph and went to swipe him across the face half-heartedly. Raph ducked and went for a gentle upper cut. Kara jumped back with her arms up and kicked Raph softly but quickly in the face.   
  
"Oh! Did I hurt you?" Asked Kara, her voice full of concern. Raph laughed.  
  
"Hey, I'm a turtle; I don't hurt that easy. Now quit stallin and fight!"   
  
Raph went for a high punch, but Kara ducked and moved in for a right leg swipe. Raph jumped over her leg swipe and delivered a kick of his own to her abdomen. Kara, instead of falling, somersaulted backwards and stood up again. Raph stood up straight and bowed to her.   
  
"Nice work."  
  
"Considering I don't know what the heck I'm doing?" Added on Kara jokingly.  
  
Mikey's face lit up as if a light had suddenly popped on. "So that means that we could fight, and you could watch, and then you would be able to do it?"  
  
Kara shrugged. "Well yeah, basically, but you would have to fight in slow mo and show me the moves a couple of times."  
  
They spent all morning in the dojo showing Kara everything they knew. When lunchtime rolled around Kara came out of the dojo racing Mikey. They all sat around the couch eating pizza. Jarod and Splinter, being the oldest, got the couch. Kara and Mikey, preferring the floor, plopped down right in front, and Donny had grabbed his spinning chair from his computer desk and Raph and Leo fought for the armchair. Raph won, and Leo went over to sit on Mikey's lounge chair. Splinter looked at Mikey.  
  
"Michelangelo, how did you get those marks on your face, my son?"   
  
Mikey's hand reached up towards his face to lightly touch the scratches that Kara had given him last night.  
  
"Heh, let's just say that that cats aren't the only things with claws."  
  
"Let me guess," said Jarod dryly. "You snuck up on Kara when you went to get her last night."  
  
"Never try to scare a sleeping child," chuckled Kara.  
  
"Now my turn to ask you, Kara. Where did you get the bandanna?"  
  
"Oh this?"  
  
Kara touched the yellow bandanna that was tied around her head and pushed up to her hairline. It matched her yellow eyes perfectly. "The guys gave it to me, and Donny gave me this." She held up a Bo with the same yellow cloth rapped around the middle of it for a handgrip. Donny bowed his head in embarrassment when everybody looked at him.   
  
"I liked the nunchucks," said Kara, "but I would not be able to carry a weapon around with me and chances are small that I would find two sticks connected with a piece of chain just lying around. So I choose the Bo." Jarod laughed at her excitement.   
  
"What about you, Jarod? Do you want to learn ninjitsu?" Asked Leo  
  
"Nah, fighting's not the thing for me. Though I do like this meditation that Splinter does."  
  
"My sons," Splinter said, interrupting their talk, "Jarod says that the Purple Dragons are trying to kill April. When you go out on patrol tonight I want you to make sure that they stay away from her."   
  
"Yes Sensei," they chorused. 


	3. A night on the town

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would not be sitting here typing a fan fic! I would be rich and famous, duh! Please don't sue *Get down on her knees and begs* I don't have any money!   
  
1:30 pm  
  
Mikey's room   
  
The Turtle's Lair  
  
The Sewers   
  
New York, New York  
  
"Do you think that I could come with you guys tonight on your patrol?" Kara asked, lying on Mikey's bed, while she looked his Batman comics.  
  
"I don't know if you can keep up," Mikey answered reluctantly, sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed drawing a picture. "I mean, Leo likes us to keep moving to keep from being seen. Plus, we jump roofs sometimes."  
  
Kara looked up at Mikey.  
  
"Hello! Mikey does the word 'wolf', mean anything to you? I have more energy than a lot of people. I sleep five hours a night and that is good enough for me. I have roof-hopped before. Of course Centre operatives were chasing me at the time, but nonetheless I can still do it. I have more muscles then a bodybuilder on steroids. My muscles are just more compact. I can dog trot miles on end without getting tired. I can probably sprint at top speed for at least 1200 meters. (3/4 of a mile) Come on Mikey, I won't even fight with you if you don't want. I promise! Please!!!"   
  
Mikey broke. "Oh, alright. Go ask Leo and see what he says, and if he says 'yes' you can ask Jarod. The if he says 'yes' you can go."   
  
Kara jumped off the bed, grinning from ear to ear. She gave Mikey a quick bear hug and ran out of the room.  
  
"Thanks Mikey!"  
  
  
  
Kara walked into Leo's room with her hands clasped behind her back and only a slight smile present on her face.   
  
"Leo."  
  
"Hm?" Leo said, not even bothering to look up from the book he was reading.   
  
"Do you think that I could possibly... go on patrol with you guys tonight?"   
  
Kara spoke the last part as if the words were fire in her mouth and the quicker she got them out the quicker she would be relived of pain. Leo looked up from his book now that she had got his attention.  
  
"I don't know..."  
  
"I already explained it to Mikey. I am part wolf. I have leaped buildings before. I can run miles on end. Believe me, I can keep up, and I promise to stay out of the way."   
  
"What would Jarod say?"  
  
"Well, let's see here. He would let me go, so long as I am not too conspicuous to anyone who might be searching for me."  
  
"You want to make a bet on that?"  
  
"Sure. Person who is wrong has to make breakfast."  
  
"Deal."   
  
Leo and Kara went into the living room where Jarod was on his computer.   
  
"Jarod, do you think that I can go out on patrol with the guys tonight?"  
  
"Sure. Just remember that we are still on the run, so don't be too conspicuous."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Kara grinned at Leo. "That's what he always says. Don't worry- I'll cook breakfast. I want to anyways. The only thing Jarod ever eats is junk food, so I never get to cook breakfast for anyone but myself."   
  
10:00 pm that night  
  
Topside April's apartment  
  
New York, New York  
  
Mikey climbed through the window, motioning for the others to be quiet. As the others took their time climbing in over the sink from the fire escape, Mikey went over to April. She was sitting on her couch, completely entranced in a movie.   
  
"Boo!!"   
  
"Don't do that, Mikey!" Screamed April, who'd jumped sky-high in surprise.   
  
"But it's so fun!" He laughed. Then he sobered. "April, we would like you to meet our new friend, Takara. A.k.a., Kara."   
  
April extended her hand to Kara, and they shook hands.  
  
"Nice to meet you."   
  
"Likewise."  
  
Leo stepped forward. "Master Splinter wants us to keep an eye on you. He says that the Purple Dragons are out to kill you. I was planning on going to stir them up to get them off your back for a while. I wanted to let you know so you weren't totally in the dark about it."  
  
April laughed. "Leo, I am always in the dark about everything you guys do. This won't make a difference. Anyways, I have four big strong bodyguards to protect me. Right, Mikey?"  
  
Mikey grinned and slung his arm around Donny's neck.   
  
"Yep, big strong body guards, that's us."  
  
" Well, now that that is over. Can we go on patrol now? I have this urge to kick some butt." Ralph took out his sai and twirled it around to prove his anxiousness. April shot him a frosty glare.  
  
"Ralph, put those away. Last time you did that Mikey tackled you and you accidentally let it go flying and broke my favorite vase. Raph shrugged and went on to put his sai away. Before he could, Kara looked over to see Mikey sneaking up behind Raph.  
  
"I sense some De-ja-vu going on here," warned Kara. Raph turned at the warning, his sai traveling in his hand at head level. Mikey ducked.   
  
"Hey bro, I'm not that dumb," laughed Mikey as Raph went to retrieve his sai from where it had lodged itself in April's wall. April groaned and Kara giggled. Leo stated that they should be going before April's neighbors got suspicious. Everybody said good-bye to April, and with that Kara and the guys jumped back out the window to continue with their patrol.   
  
Kara followed the guys. They ran at a slow pace across each roof, jumping from one to the next as they went. Kara became happier and more care free as she started to feel the wind in her face. The only thing better than having friends that she could keep for more than a month was the feeling of being free. That was what running did for her. She felt free.   
  
Kara kept pace with Mikey. Out of the four brothers Kara found she liked him the best. He yearned for friendship, just like her. The other brothers were not quiet as social even though they all liked to talk and joke around.   
  
Leo motioned for everybody to stop. Kara listened closely and could hear the faint sounds of a struggle coming from the alley below. Mikey snuck over to the ledge where Leo was taking in the situation, held a brief conversation with him, and then walked back over to Kara.  
  
"You wanna come?" He asked.  
  
"Where?" Whispered Kara  
  
"To go get this guy. Leo said that I could handle this one. You wanna come help?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Kara hopped over the ledge that separated the top of the roof from the fire escape. She let herself unleash a small amount of her hunting mode and followed Mikey down to the alley below. She saw a man trying to mug a young woman.   
  
"You want to handle it?" Asked Mikey.  
  
Kara arched an eyebrow.   
  
"Don't worry, I'm right here if he tries anything."   
  
Kara gave Mikey a shrug and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was a hunger gleaming in them. She had a straight emotionless face on, with just a touch of confidence hidden beneath it all. Kara strolled out calmly from the shadows of the alley like she was supposed to be there- just like Jarod taught her.   
  
"Ladies aren't supposed to be treated as such," she said in a deeper voice than her own. The man turned around.   
  
Where had this kid come from? Wherever she'd come from, she was spooky, no doubt about it. But that never stopped Clay from beating on who he pleased.   
  
"What business is it of yours?"   
  
"Unless I am mistaken, I heard a muffled cry for help."   
  
Kara spread her arms away from her body as to reveal something right in front of her. "I am help."  
  
"Maybe you are mistaken. Either that, or a li'l bit screwed up in the head. No body messes with me." Clay got out a metal pipe.   
  
"You can leave now ma'm," Kara told the frightened woman. "He will no longer be hurting you."  
  
"She's not going any where," said Clay as he advanced slowly with his pipe. Once he came into range Kara's right hand shot up. The Bo that was in her hand quickly disarmed Clay of his pipe. How could I have missed that she had a stick in her hand? thought Clay. Running out of patience, he drew a gun.   
  
"You don't have no right in my business, kid."  
  
Kara let a cold menacing smile play on her lips. In the shadows Mikey was about to step in when Kara started to talk again. She let out a short, mirthless laugh.  
  
"Guns are not to play with. I never really liked people who carried guns that are meant to hurt others. I guess you could call it a childhood fear," she growled.   
  
Clay brought up his gun as if too shoot, and Kara did a little hop as if to jump. Clay brought his gun up farther instinctively but Kara ducked and swept her Bo across the floor.   
  
Up on the roof Don grinned. "I taught her that."  
  
Kara was on Clay before he could move. She put her bow under his chin, forcing his head back.  
  
"Never ever so much as try to hurt anyone again or you will have to answer to me," she said, growling softly to emphasize her point. Clay was too scared to even notice when Kara gave his head a smart tap with her Bo to knock him into unconsciousness. The guys came down from the roof and Mikey stepped out of the shadows.   
  
"...Ok, that was spooky," said Ralph as he hit the ground after jumping the last story.   
  
"He's gonna have dreams of the dark avenger with yellow eyes for years to come," joked Mikey.   
  
Kara shook her head, coming out of the trance she seemed to be in. "Scum like that don't listen to a beating verbally or physically. They can heal from those. They need fear to set them straight. Nothing like good old-fashioned fear to make someone see your way."  
  
Mikey shook his head. "Man, poor dude. I'd hate to be him if he ever tried to do something like again and you were close by."  
  
Ralph shrugged then put on one of his rare smiles.   
  
"Hey, anybody who knows how to get scum like him to corporate gets and 'A' in my book."  
  
The guys went back on the roof. Kara looked once more at the man lying one the ground before following her new friends.   
  
They continued to jump roofs and patrol the town for sometime. Kara was a little quiet for a while but when Mikey missed his footing and fell into garbage dumpster, she couldn't help but brighten up. At around twelve-thirty Leo suggested that they go back to the lair for the night.   
  
A/n ok it may take awhile for chappie four because we are doing writing and reading in English and you know how boring and draining those boring (I swear they're trying to keep me from writing) writing prompts can be, and if you don't, then hope that you never do! Pretty much when I get home I am drained as far as wanting to write something goes. (Yeah, who made reading and English right after each other anyways!?) In other words, I will try to update soon but it will be hard. Please review! I don't care if you type nothing at all in the review box! Just let me know you're out there and are reading my story! (Excuse me, not mine I don't own them, just borrowing them, but I do own the ideas so review my idea! Yeah, there we go!) 


	4. Surprise!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. How could I? I do own Kara though, so please don't take her. But if you do, what can I do. I can see it now... "Yes, Mr. Judge, that guy right there was the one that stole my character that I made specially for an illegal purpose".   
  
A/n Thanks a bunch to ShadowElfBard who is Beta reading for me. I also want to say... Please review!!! I need them! I honestly do! I live off of them!   
  
5:00 am   
  
The Lair   
  
The Sewers  
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
WARNING, FIRST PERSON KARA:  
  
  
  
Last night was great. I wonder if the guys do that every night.   
  
I decided not to go for my morning run today because I ran so much last night. Leo and the guys said that after their morning practice they would teach me more stuff. Haha, I think that Ralph is kind of confused on how to teach me. I know stuff that's in the middle of training. I kind of skipped the basics because I already have the muscles and instincts to do everything. I just lack in the "how-to" department. They said that I would need to learn how to have more mind-body connection before I can learn the really hard stuff that they do. Jarod is already learning that from master Splinter. I think he's taken to meditating. I like it too, but I like the workouts more. I don't know why I am so interested in Ninjitsu. Maybe it is so that I won't be so easily controlled. Maybe it's because I simply want to know how. I don't know what it is, but I am determined to learn all I can know.   
  
I like the idea of having friends my age. I can't go to school anymore because Jarod says that it would be too easy for The Centre to find us. I go on a pretend as a kid at school every once in awhile, but I can never keep the friends that I make. I still keep in touch with Maggie and the others, but that is hard to do, too. The Centre still watches them closely. I talk to them online a lot, but I've only been able to see them twice since our escape. The turtles are the first real friends that I have made since this all started. I know that Jarod isn't worrying about The Centre much, because really, who would think that we were living in the sewers with four teenage mutant ninja turtles and their rat master?   
  
I think I like Mikey the best. Don't get me wrong! I like them all. It is just that Mikey has this feeling surrounding him. He seems to try to be friends with me the most. The other guys try to be friends with me too, but Mikey just wants someone to share the daily gossip and a bunch of giggles with.   
  
It's weird. I relate to each o f the turtles so well. I try to have fun like Mikey. I am stubborn like Ralph. I am smart like Donny, and I am thoughtful like Leo.   
  
There was only one thing that was really eating at me. I have been having dreams lately. I don't usually have dreams because I don't sleep long enough. The last time I had a dream was, let's see here... The last time I had a dream was right before I was kidnapped. These dreams are kind of the same. In my dreams I am back at The Centre. The only thing was that The Centre was actually a school. (You know the feeling-where you know what it is, but it looks different.) The teachers were scientists and the turtles were with me. I was a turtle too. We were in an art class. It looked like we were being taught, but really we were being analyzed. It also looked like we were having fun but the main feeling in the room was depression. I knew that everybody was longing to get out somehow. I would wake up at that point and sit in my bed thinking. I knew partially what the dream meant. The school part was that I was longing for my regular life where I didn't have to lie about where I came from. The Centre-like feeling was that I was scared The Centre would find my new friends and me. I knew what it meant, but I still didn't like it. Now I know why people don't like to dream. When I was normal I rarely ever dreamt. If I did dream, they were always pleasant and hazy or completely clear and terrifying. I had better go out into the kitchen to get something to eat. The guys will be waking up for practice soon and I want to watch.  
  
END FIRST PERSON  
  
Kara walked into the kitchen to see Ralph and Donny playing "keep the cookies away from Mikey". They currently were throwing the pack of cookies from one to the other. Mikey was complaining as he tried to get them back.  
  
"Come on guys. Give um to me. I'm a growing turtle and I need my nutrition."  
  
"Oh really, Mike. Nutrition? You would be better off eating pizza," said Donny as he threw the cookies to Ralph.  
  
"Actually, the chocolate chips are good for your heart and the cookies part of it is a grain so it is pretty healthy."  
  
Ralph looked over at Kara and chuckled. " And where did ya learn that one?"  
  
He tossed the cookies to her. She opened them and pulled one out.   
  
"That was the excuse Jarod gave me when I told him he eats too many…. only a much longer version."  
  
Kara was about to eat her cookie when Jarod walked in and relieved her of it.  
  
"Bad idea."   
  
He ate her cookie before she could protest.  
  
"You'll be bouncing off the walls all day."   
  
Kara took a cookie from the box. "Then I'll make sure the guys work me extra hard and I stay up extra late. Besides it's only... .598 grams of sugar."   
  
Jarod turned to the guys and gave them a shrug. "Hey, I tried. Now you guys get to deal with her and her "hyperness" for the rest of the day."  
  
"Why are you up so early anyway?" Asked Kara.  
  
"That mediation really does something for you. I got the best night's sleep I have had in a long time, and it was only six hours. Yet I feel awake and totally refreshed."  
  
Jarod walked out of the room leaving the teenagers to themselves.   
  
"So can I have my cookies now?" Asked Mikey as he quickly moved over to the table to grab some cookies before anyone could tell him not to. Leo called for them to get into the dojo before Splinter made them do flips. At the mention of flips the guys made a mad break for the dojo. Kara laughed so hard she almost choked on her hard-earned cookie.  
  
In the dojo the guys were warming up. Kara walked in right when Splinter started talking. She silently sat down on the mats to watch them work out.   
  
"Now my sons, a true ninja must strike fear into their enemy. Sometimes with our most hated enemies, your looks may not be enough. Michelangelo! I am a purple dragon. Scare me."  
  
Mikey thought about it for a few minutes then came up to his master and tried to make scary faces.   
  
"Too expected Michelangelo. Leonardo you try."   
  
Leo came up to Splinter and tried to disarm him while looking like it was a minor thing to do. He missed.   
  
"Too easy, and it looks foolish and weak, Leonardo."  
  
Ralph charged at him and Don tried to back him into a wall. Splinter informed all of them of their mistakes.   
  
"You, my sons, need to learn many things."   
  
Mikey sat on the floor pouting. " 'S not fair. Kara scared that guy last night so bad that he probably won't leave his house for the rest of his life."   
  
Splinter looked over to where Kara was sitting.   
  
"Well Takara, would you like to show my sons how you strike fear in the hearts of your enemies."   
  
Kara walked over to where the guys were sitting before their Sensei.   
  
"Well Master, there is no way to strike fear into someone who hates you flat out. If it is someone that does not know you, or someone that just wants to hurt you is what you are talking about, then it is easy. You act the opposite of what looks like your nature it. For me, it looks like I am a kid so I should be having fun and playing pranks. The way I scare people is acting like I am older and more superior to them. I can scare anybody I want except for one group of people. That is The Centre. They hate me and would do anything to get me. There is not much you can do against hate."   
  
"I believe that you, Takara, could strike fear into anybody you wanted to. Your choice to refrain from such acts is just. Thank you."   
  
Kara went back over to the mats to watch the guys continue to practice. Splinter gave them another short lecture and then paired them up to spar. Mikey went against Leo, and Ralph went against Donny. Then they started to fight. There was no mercy when they fought whatsoever. When they knew they could get a hit with their weapons, they went in for it, but stopped right before they struck. In the end they were all tied. Kara was not surprised. The guys walked over to her after they were dismissed.   
  
"So are you ready for more lessons?"  
  
"Well, I think so. As ready as I'll ever be, anyways."  
  
"Ok, well for these ones you really need to practice. I'm just warning you that you can't learn them from just watching. You know the mediation that Splinter taught you and Jarod last night before we went out? Well, you are going to be putting that to use," Leo warned.   
  
"I think I can do it. That mediation was not too different from pretending. It was like pretending to be yourself and then letting go. I kind of liked it."  
  
"Ok, I don't know why anybody would actually like to sit still for that long by their own free will, but I have a move for you."   
  
Mikey stood up and jumped high into the air. He kicked his legs out in opposite directions and then landed.   
  
"It's called a split kick."   
  
Kara got off the mats and tried to perform the move but failed.   
  
"Dude, how do you guys do that!?"  
  
Ralph laughed as he too preformed a perfect split kick. "You have to believe totally that you can do it and you can't stop once you hit your target. You have to kick through your target."  
  
He held up a board and Leo kicked through it. Kara tried but still failed.   
  
"It's alright. It takes time. I just wanted to show you so that you could practice it," said Mikey. "Let's move on to some of the more moderate stuff."   
  
  
  
  
  
6:00 am  
  
Manhole cover  
  
New York, New York  
  
"Why did you bring me here, Saki? Are you telling me that my enemies are in the sewers?"  
  
"That is exactly what I am saying, Mr. Lyle. My soldiers have informed me that they have teamed up with MY enemies. I do not care what you do to them. I just want them gone. I will give you a warning though. They are not normal. They are well versed in Ninjitsu and they can overpower all of your men without even so much as breaking a sweat. If you are to get your property back then you need to have a plan that involves eliminating my enemies as well. They will not let their friends be taken without a fight. I suggest you get tranquilizer guns."  
  
"Willie! Take six teams of sweepers and search the sewers. If you find anything then call me and sit tight. You there, go find tranquilizer guns. They are not going to elude me this time."   
  
9:00 pm  
  
The Roof Tops  
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
MIKEY FIRST PERSON   
  
  
  
Dude it was so awesome today. We were trying to teach Kara to pick pocket. That was the laugh of a lifetime. Ralph stole her wallet to show her how good he was. While he was in the process of stealing it, Kara stole his bandanna! That's right! Right off his head it came, and she sat there with it in her hand as she let him pick her pocket. When he showed her her wallet in his hand she put on an expression of mock surprise. My bros and I were trying so hard not to laugh. I finally lost it when Ralph said how alert you had to be to keep yourself from getting pick pocketed. I rolled around on the floor laughing and Leo and Don soon joined me. Ralph just stood there looking confused before Kara held up his bandanna. His hands shot up to his face to find that it indeed was gone. That was almost too much for me. I swear I could have died from laughing at that very moment. Ralph prides himself on being alert and on being fearless. Here this kid, that's not even a ninja, was able to take his bandanna off his head. She explained that she had had a lot of practice in the field of breaking and entering, stealing, and picking locks.   
  
Now we were on another nightly patrol. Kara seemed to be enjoying herself. I don't know which is worse, knowing that there is a world above you that will not accept you, or living in a world that you are forced to shun. She seems happy with us, though.   
  
Right when I was about to ask Kara about Jarod, a team of ninjas dropped down in front of us.  
  
"Who are they?" Kara asked as we all drew our weapons.   
  
"They are the Foot, Shredder's lackeys." I told her.  
  
"Yeah, and by the looks of it Shredder is not getting any smarter. We could kick these guys' buts in our sleep. Either that or they have a message for us. So what is it, huh? What does big ol' bad Shred-Head want to warn us about this time?"   
  
I swear Ralph is gonna get himself killed one of these days with those remarks.   
  
"The Shredder says that you had better get back to your home before your rat friend is disposed of."  
  
Ralph stopped twirling his Sais and stood there for a second. Then it dawned on him. He let out a monstrous roar and charged at the spokesperson. The other Foot charged at us and the fight was on. It was a mere thirty-to-five. I had my six down in no time and went over to help Kara with hers. It was obvious that she was not sure how good she was yet because she kept on jumping around not letting the Foot too close. I think that their weapons scared her. She has seen us in weapons practice, but we have never spared with her yet. She was doing remarkably well and did not let her fear show. If I didn't know her I would have thought that she was bored. I also noticed that she did not kill any of her opponents. We don't kill unless it is necessary and I am glad that she realized that a life, no matter whose, is worth a lot. I helped her with her last four guys. By that time the others had already taken down the rest.   
  
Ralph stormed off. "They know where we live. We have to get home."   
  
He jumped off the roof and was gone before we could stop him or reason with him.   
  
Leo was clearly worried and Don was trying not to wonder too much.   
  
I myself was worried. If The Shredder knew where we lived, then he would have had to have a way to find it. I mean, all these years and he only found our home once. He must have found something else that led him to the discovery of our home.   
  
Leo and Don followed Ralph off the roof. Kara and I brought up the rear. We all slipped down the nearest manhole and went at a head long run towards our home. I could tell that Kara was holding back. I didn't blame her. She does not know her way around the sewers yet and she didn't know what she was to face if she showed up before we did. This was our fight, after all. She should never have gotten into this mess.   
  
END FIRST PERSON  
  
They arrived at the lair in a matter of minutes, compared to the half an hour it should have taken them. They burst through the doorway to be greeted by a ransacked home. They walked around looking at the mess. Suddenly a noise caused them all to turn towards the doorway.  
  
"You know that making friends is a huge weakness. They can always be used against you."   
  
Lyle walked around the doorway. His eyes widened and he stepped back a few feet in surprise at seeing the turtles.   
  
"And I thought that rat was weird," he mumbled in an exasperated tone.   
  
At the sight of Lyle, Kara too took a pace backwards.   
  
"Lyle!" She hissed as she pulled out her Bo staff. She looked to her left to see four sweepers standing over the bodies of Splinter and Jarod.   
  
"What did you do to them?" She demanded in a low tone.   
  
"The same thing I'm going to do to you."   
  
When Leo caught sight of his unconscious Sensei he let out a thunderous roar. He drew both his Katanas and was about to charge Lyle.  
  
"Leo! No!" He heard Ralph scream as Lyle raised his gun in defense. Ralph jumped in front of Leo to stop him from charging Lyle just as Lyle pulled the trigger. He missed his original target but manage to shoot Ralph in the upper arm. Suddenly Ralph turned and pulled out one sai as he pressed his other arm to his side. He spun in around and readied to throw it.   
  
"You see, I was feeling generous despite all this and was going to keep Leo from killing you. But I don't know. You drugged our Sensei, made our friend's lives a living heck and just shot me? I think I just might save Leo the trouble and kill you myself."  
  
He was about to let his sai fly when he let out a grunt. He put his Sai back in his belt so that he could pull the dart out of his neck. Before the others could move a muscle they were all darted in the same way.   
  
"Next time act faster. That thing was about to kill me!" Lyle yelled at the sweepers handling the tranquilizer guns.  
  
"And I still can," muttered Ralph as he pulled the Sai out of his belt.   
  
He was about to raise it when fell to the ground unconscious. The other followed suit seconds later.   
  
"Get them out of here and onto the jet," Lyle ordered.  
  
  
  
A/n yeah so there it is! I love this chapter! (Sorry but I do!) Just to let you guys know. If you ever gave your dog pop then you would know that is how Kara gets with sugar. She is really hyper for a little bit then she calms down but craves more pop. (By the way if you do give your dog pop [which I don't advise] make sure that it is not Mountain Dew!) Man, you give those puppies MTD and they bounce off the walls! Oh well, please review. I love them and probably couldn't live with out them. (The reviews not the puppies, but I like puppies too!) 


	5. Thoughts and Feelings

Disclaimer: If I owned them I wouldn't be writing on this web site giving away my scripts for the story! Duh! No infringement is intended. It all belongs to some other dude, except for Takara. She's mine and if I was good at drawing I would draw her for you guys, but alas I can't draw worth crap… that's why I write! Please don't sue!   
  
A/N I can't emphasize this enough. Please, please, please review. The only review I have for this story is ShadowElfBard and she's my beta reader! Oh and two from Onisius! (No offense- I appreciate it, really!) I feel really lonely guys. The last review alert that I got was for my sister's story that I posted for her. *Cries her little eyes out* I miss reviews!   
  
11:00 pm  
  
Center Jet  
  
Private Air Strip   
  
New York, New York  
  
  
  
"Excuse me. Mr. Lyle? I think that we should wake Kara up now. She will probably have trouble with the difference in altitude and would deal with it better if she were awake," said Dr. Bo  
  
Lyle was really starting to get annoyed with his ceaseless prattle. From the moment they got back the only thing that he did was talk about the advances those freaky turtle things could do for science. Lyle was starting to wish that he hadn't brought him. He gave the gesture to go ahead and wake Kara up.   
  
Kara groaned as she awoke from her drug-induced sleep. She looked around to find herself in a jet, apparently. She barely had time to remember what had happened before the plane started its engines and prepared to take off.   
  
Lyle was going to pay for what he did. How did he find her? They hadn't left any clues for them to follow. As the plane started to gain altitude she started to feel lightheaded. Suddenly she felt a pressure at the back of her head and her vision began to blur. She shook her head a few times, but it didn't help any. They pressure started to get worse and worse. She felt like screaming but she didn't want to give Lyle the satisfaction and knew that it would do no good. 'Mediation is a separation of mind and body. If you were good enough at it somebody could stab you while you were in mediation and you would not know it until you came out of it,' she remembered Leo telling her.   
  
She shook her head a few times and took a few deep breaths. Then she closed her eyes tight. She regulated her breathing then opened her eyes slightly. She let go of herself. She was no longer in the jet or anywhere for that matter. She was in her own world. Most of the time she would just imagine it but now she was actually there. There was nothing to look at and there was nothing to hear. It was like her senses were shut off. She liked it. All her worries seemed so small and peace enveloped her.   
  
Dr. Bo came back into the compartment where Kara was being held. She was on the floor sitting cross-legged. She looked completely relaxed. Dr. Bo walked out locking the door, not wanting anyone to scare her out of whatever state she was in.   
  
8:00 am (the next morning)  
  
Freaky Experiment Floor SL-26  
  
The Centre   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Donny was the first of his brothers to wake up. He took stock of where he was. He couldn't believe it. Fifteen years and they had not been captured. Then, suddenly, here they were in a cell barely big enough to move around in. He looked over all his brothers to make sure that they were all ok. As he was checking on the wound on Raph's arm he woke up and almost killed him with his bare hands. Donny jumped back as his brother sat up right and grabbed him.   
  
"Whoa! Raph! It's me!" He yelled.  
  
Raph woke up fully and saw that he was close to strangling Don. He released him.  
  
"Sorry bro."  
  
"Huh, it's not like you haven't done it before. No harm done. How's the arm?"  
  
Raph stood up and stretched, making sure to give his arm a good couple of swings. Apparently somebody had cleaned the wound and taken out the bullet, but had failed to bandage it.   
  
"It's fine," he mumbled as he went over to where Mikey was still lying.   
  
He gave him a light kick in his plastron.   
  
"Get up, I know you're not sleeping."  
  
Mikey opened one eye.  
  
"How dya know?"   
  
"You snore when you sleep."  
  
"Do not!"   
  
"Yeah you do, but that's only when you're not sleep talkin and walkin," said Leo from where he had just gotten up.   
  
"So what have we gotten ourselves into here?" Asked Raph.  
  
"Well I was talkin to Jarod one night while you guys where off showing Kara how to skateboard. He said that The Centre is nothing to be messed with. I think that we should all try to act as neutral as possible to avoid them picking one of us to uh... er... dissect. Jarod said that they are heartless people that would do anything to anybody for the sake of research."   
  
At that point they all looked at Raph.  
  
"What? Hey I'm short-tempered, not dumb. I know how to take care of myself."   
  
A team of doctors walked in cutting off any farther discussion. Their cage took up a whole side of the room and the doctors and their equipment was set up in the rest of the area. Donny noticed that the locks to the doors where attached to retina scanners. Three of the doctors unlocked the cage and walked in ever so slowly followed by two sweepers holding tranquilizer guns. All the guys stayed sitting on the floor in the circle they had created. One of the scientists slowly approached Raph, hunched over slightly with his hand stretched out murmuring nonsense words about not being hurt.   
  
"I'm not gonna bite ya unless you deserve it, ya know," snapped Raph after getting annoyed by the doctor's tactics of approaching him.  
  
The doctor straightened up in surprise when Raph spoke. The other turtles laughed at the scared expression on the doctors' faces. The other two quickly scribbled down notes in their books.   
  
"We're not going to attack you either," soothed Don.  
  
"Unless you do something we don't like, and then as Raph said, you would deserve it," warned Leo.   
  
The doctors just all stood there and stared at what they thought to be dumb, overgrown, bandanna- wearing, weapons wielding, turtles.   
  
"Well that explains why Lyle found Jarod and Takara with them," voiced one of the younger scientists.   
  
"Now are you gonna do what you came in here to do or are you just gonna stare?" Asked Mikey.  
  
That seemed to snap all of the doctors in motion, both the ones inside the cage and the ones outside that had stopped working when Raph had made himself heard.   
  
The doctor that had originally tried approaching Raph scampered over to check on his wound. Raph turned his head away as she picked at the still fresh tear in his flesh where the bullet had entered. He never made a sound. He just sat there with his arm extended and a bad mood written clearly all over his face. When she had finished and had cleaned the wound again she left the cage and two other scientists replaced her, bringing in with them pans of food. One pan contained fruit. Another contained vegetables. Yet another one held cooked meats. They all got a water bowl apiece. The scientist left the food next to the door and hurried out to observe the 'animals' eating their food from a safe distance.  
  
"So should we start a food fight just to amuse um or somethin?" Asked Mikey as he went over to check out what they had to eat.   
  
He picked up a chunk of salmon and took a bite. He made a face but swallowed it.   
  
"Man you'd think they thought that seasoning was evil, or something. Raph can cook better than this."   
  
Raph moved over and took a piece of fruit out of the bowl.  
  
"That's why you stick to the fruit dude. No cooking needed there."   
  
Leo came over to grab a water bowl, letting his brothers have their fill of food before he ate any.   
  
"They are trying to keep us in an environment much to a real turtle's. If we were normal we would love meat and hate vegetables considering how young we would be," explained Donny as he came over to eat along side Mikey.   
  
"Yeah and if we were normal, we wouldn't be here right now," grumped Raph.  
  
"Face it Raph. If you had the chance to be normal would you take it?" Countered Leo.   
  
"Man, I want my Sais back. What I wouldn't give for a good work out right now to make this drug crap wear off."   
  
"I second you on that one Raph. I feel so naked without my Bo."  
  
"Yeah, imagine that. They take my Katanas but not the sheaths to keep them safe, stupid people."  
  
"Hey personally all I want right now is a good pizza. If they plan to keep us fit on this junk they're gonna fail," whined Mikey, referring to the bland meal he was eating.   
  
"Hah hah, you can bet on Mikey to think of his stomach at a time like this."   
  
"What? He doesn't like to be ignored," he said patting his stomach. "Besides there isn't much else to think about."   
  
"What we need to think about is how to get out of here," voiced Leo as he finally came over to eat some meat.   
  
"What's with the scientists here!? Hey Leo I'm supposed to be the dude that makes the poor choices."  
  
"If you think about it Raph, they are probably going to want to monitor us twenty four seven. We won't have any other chance to talk about it. Well personally I think that they will either try to tranquilize us or gas us. We need to stay somewhere that keeps them from setting off gas, and somewhere open so we can dodge darts."   
  
"Well for once I think that Donny's right... Ok, he's always right. Anyways, I think that we should just split if we get the chance."  
  
"But Leo, what about Jarod, and Kara? Not to mention Master Splinter," Mikey said, reminding him of their trapped companions.  
  
"They can take care of themselves and if they don't get out before us then we will come back for them after we have learned more about this place," explained Donny.   
  
Another doctor entered the room. He walked directly over to the cage and ordered that it be opened. He strutted into the space with an air of confidence surrounding him. The turtles stood as he came towards them.   
  
"The other scientists think that you are mutated turtles. I don't believe them. I think that you are mutated humans. They think that you should have fruit, meat, and a pond. I think that you should have a bed, and anything else a human should get. Cooperate with us and I will see to it that you get what you need."  
  
Donny came forward.  
  
"Actually, you are both right. As for cooperating, Leo and Raph already told you, we will so long as we agree with what you are doing."  
  
"I think that is fair. We want to run tests to see what you are and to see what kind of IQ you have. Will you cooperate?"  
  
"Like we have a choice," Leo muttered.   
  
"Fine... my collogues will take you to a place where we can monitor your physical fitness."  
  
"Sounds like fun," muttered Raph.  
  
"Why can't he just say watch you work out?" Asked Mikey as they walked out of the cage with sweepers pointing dart guns right at them.   
  
8:00 am   
  
Jarod's cell  
  
SL 22  
  
The Center  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
WARNING FIRST PERSON JAROD  
  
  
  
I awoke slowly to the feeling of floating on air. When I finally became lucid enough I found that floating was not far from the truth. While I was out they must have put me in the cell I was in the last time I was here. They had taken precautions so far as hanging me by hand cuffs, yet again, from the ceiling. If there was any sensation left in my hands I was sure I wouldn't feel the pain that should come with having cold steel dig into your flesh. I felt too much like a traitor to feel anything physical. Somehow I had ended up leading Lyle right to the lair of my new friends.   
  
Splinter was trying to show me how to deepen my mediation while Kara and the turtles were out patrolling. An alarm had gone off and seconds later the place was swarming with sweepers and men in black clothing and masks. Splinter hissed something about the Shredder as a man in full armor came walking from the crowd of sweepers, side by side with Lyle. My eyes had widened and I'd quickly looked for a way of escape. There had been none. Lyle had grinned at my apparent fear and held up a dart gun. Then he'd noticed Splinter. He almost fainted but managed to keep himself on his feet, probably because of all the weird things he has seen at The Centre. I'd been about to make a risky move when I'd felt a prick at the back of my neck. I'd put my hand up to feel a dart. Seconds later I was out. I could only guess that Splinter was treated in much the same manner. After all, how else would you get a master in martial arts to come with you against his will?   
  
Now all I could think about was Kara and the turtles. Splinter was wise and knew things about taking care of himself that even I didn't know. I feel responsible for Kara though. I couldn't even think of what they might do to her. Then there was the fact about the turtles. My, how The Centre must have loved getting their grimy hands on them. It was like a bonus to catching us. I thought what I had to go through was torture. Being in The Center was going to break their spirits, and I felt bad for them because I led Lyle right to them. Not to mention that it would be hard for them to hide again when we got out of here. I'm being pretty optimistic, though. Well, it has been at least an hour since I woke up and Lyle has not showed his monstrous head so I think that I can safely assume that he is going to give me the silent treatment for at least a few days. It is going to be hard to do anything to occupy my mind in this position. I know that they would not leave me like this much longer-- a few hours at most-- unless they wanted a handless pretender.   
  
8:00 am  
  
SL 26  
  
The Centre  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
WARNING FIRST PERSON KARA  
  
  
  
I sprang into wakefulness the second the door beeped. Dang those darn beeps. They sound just like alarm clocks and they scare me half to death. Lyle walked in and I remembered my whole ordeal.   
  
Apparently I was not very good at coming out of mediation because I didn't remember getting off the plane, or coming to The Centre for that matter. I must have fallen asleep because when the door beeped I was not mediating, I knew that much. When I saw the grin on Lyle's face I remember that I was not the only one that was captured. The thought made my anger rise.   
  
I sprang at Lyle, but before I could do any damage two sweepers dragged me off. Lyle stepped back and straightened his tie.   
  
"Nice to see you again too, Takara."   
  
"If I said the same then I'd be lying," I spat as the sweepers held me back from getting at Lyle.  
  
"You know, I would be very unhappy with you right now for trying to attack me, but today I am feeling lenient, because those freaks you brought with you are going to make us millions, not to mention give me a promotion. So today it's no beatings, just straight back to work. How does that sound?"  
  
I stopped struggling to get at him, straightened up and put on a sarcastic smile.   
  
"Absolutely great, killing people, pulling off terrorist attacks, helping to hide criminals. It all sounds wonderful. Oh, yeah, Jarod told me what you do with the Sims you have us do. Lyle, you are nothing but a low down, scum-of-the-earth sludge puppy that would do anything to keep his master from seeing that he pissed on his favorite carpet. I will never do a sim for you again."  
  
"Oh it's not Sims that I am interested in right away. We can ease into those. I want to see just how much money we can make from having a wild girl in our mists. Half wolf, half girl. What will she do next?"  
  
Lyle said it all like I was a circus freak sideshow and it just made me sick. I have never really thought of myself as a freak because it didn't really bother me the way I was, but now that Lyle was in front of me, acting like I was in the act right before the bearded lady, it made my blood boil. I jumped at him again and the sweepers once again grabbed my arms.   
  
Being half wolf had its disadvantages too. Seeing as a wolf never used its arm muscle the way we humans do, they never develop very much. So the strength in my arms was about the same as any other fourteen-year-old girl. Well, maybe a little stronger, but the sweepers could still hold me back so long as they stayed out of range of my legs. If I tired to kick one sweeper the other sweeper would tug hard on my other arm, pulling me back from doing anything. I learned after awhile that there was no use in attacking them. Lyle walked out of the room and I immediately settled down. One thing that I learned while I was here last time was that if you act up with the sweepers when no authority figure is around, it only gets you hurt.   
  
They led me out of the room and down the hall. I snarled at the sweeper to my left when he tried to guide me to turn to the right by putting a hand on my shoulder. His hand shot down to his side and it never went near me again. He led me to the room that I was in before for my endurance test. They shoved me in and locked the door. I gave the door a futile kick and turned around to face all the equipment that I knew was in the room. To my surprise, I saw the guys there. Leo and Don had the weights off of the barbells to use for slightly heavy Katanas and a Bo. Mikey had twisted two jump ropes into nunchucks and Raph had taken two fairly light weights to substitute for his missing Sais. They were all sparing when I cleared my throat rather loudly. Their eyes widened and they ran over to me. They all gave me hugs and even Raph joined in.   
  
"Kara! We thought we wouldn't see you again!" Exclaimed Mikey as he gave me a huge bear hug.   
  
"Haha that's what I thought too, Mikey. I don't know why Lyle is letting us stay together."  
  
"It's to minimize stress. Familiar things will reduce stress and they took all familiar things away from us. So they brought you in with hopes that we wouldn't go off the deep end."  
  
"I don't know, Donny. All I know is that we are here, in a workout room, and the scientists haven't got here yet. Which means that they plan on giving us some work out time before they try to kill us from fatigue later on today. We might as well make the most of it, because normally we wouldn't get time to work out and believe you me it is frustrating having pent up energy that you can't get rid of."  
  
"So what do you say, more sparring, running or weight lifting?"   
  
"I dunno, Leo. I mean, those all sound slightly boring. How about a game of basketball? We can use the bar bell racks as goals and we can use the jump ropes for boundary lines."  
  
"Hey I'm up for it. The last time I played basketball was when we were… ok, I can't remember the last time I played basketball," admitted Raph.  
  
We set up our makeshift court and started to play.   
  
8:30 am  
  
Observation Room  
  
To the right of the work out room separated by a two way mirror  
  
SL 26  
  
The Center   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
WARNING FIRST PERSON SCIENTIST BY THE NAME OF DR. KOZWELL  
  
It was absolutely amazing. Mr. Lyle had assigned me to care for these extraordinary animals that he had found in the sewers while looking for Jarod and Kara. Don't ask me how he came across them, but he brought them back when he brought the pretenders in. All I know is that if the rest of the staff and I play our cards right, we could have large raises soon.  
  
I was watching the subjects play basketball together. It was the most extraordinary game I have ever seen! The five of them were apparently running at full speed back and forth across the work out room floor. I must remind myself to find out their true top speed. Any way, they went zipping along! I have never seen anything aside from a cheetah run that fast! Even the girl, Kara, was speeding along, keeping up with the rest of them. The turtles were doing flips and kicks to get the ball from one another. It was the oddest game I have ever seen! They must have been breaking a million rules. The blue one and the red one were apparently paired up with Kara. The orange one and the purple one were facing them off by what it seemed. The blue turtle dribbled the ball down the crude court but got it stolen by the turtle in orange. The turtle in red kicked the ball out of his hands and started the other way with it, but the turtle in purple had climbed up onto the climbing ropes that were currently suspend off the ground seeing as they were not in use, and jumped down on his back. The four turtles started rough housing and Kara rolled on the ground begging for mercy because she was laughing so hard, but the happiness was short lived.   
  
Dr. Chutuck walked in. Kara immediately got her laughing under control and glared at him with a face of stone. At the sound of silence the others soon noticed the presence of my associate and came forward forgetting their game.   
  
"Good morning, Kara," He said his tone so icy it sent chills down my back. "I hope you don't mind that Lyle gave me some time with you and your... friends, to study how being on the outside world has affected you and how contact with you affected them."  
  
"If I did mind it wouldn't make a difference," Kara said. I swear, she is so defiant. She was in an at ease position except for her arms which were folded across her chest proclaiming her stubbornness.   
  
"Well, I think you will like this. I want to see how long you can run at a slow pace."   
  
Kara ran over to the treadmill and jumped onto it.   
  
"But you would never let us run at our own pace for fear of us holding back, so you are gonna make us run on these dumb treadmills."  
  
"I'm assuming that means us too," said the one in orange as he hopped over the bar used to steady yourself.  
  
"Starting somewhere, using all your energy, and going nowhere. I don't like that," grumbled the one in blue.  
  
The one in red did a flip over the control panel and landed on the belt of a treadmill.  
  
"But we don't have a choice so we might as well do it. Anyway, he's the one who will be wasting his time sitting here watching us."  
  
"I feel pity for you, dude," said the one in orange.  
  
Dr. Chutuck took out his notepad and wrote down notes as he talked out loud.   
  
"Orange one shows signs of sarcasm."  
  
"Mikey," said the orange one right after the first syllable or the word orange came out of Dr. Chutuck's mouth. He looked up and Mikey/ Orange gave him a huge toothy grin. He started to point towards the other turtles and went down the line of the way they were on the treadmills.   
  
"Donny, Raph, Leo, Mikey. Purple, Red, Blue and Orange sound weird."  
  
Chutuck cocked an eyebrow and shrugged. He walked over and turned on each of the machines. As he turned his back each of the turtles cranked the machines high. Kara giggled and she too cranked hers higher before Chutuck turned back around. He turned back around and noticed the increase in speed and glared at the culprits.   
  
"I always hated the turtle and the hare story. It made us look slow and lazy," said the one who apparently liked to be called Donny.   
  
Chutuck shook his head and sat down in a chair leaving the machines where they were.   
  
Two hours later  
  
WARNING FIRST PERSON DR. CHUTUCK  
  
  
  
I was amazed at the speed the turtles could go. Not only that but apparently they could maintain that speed for a long period of time. They were even talking and joking with the other subject, Kara. I was originally put on the project with the mutant turtles but Lyle decided last minute that he wanted to test Kara again to compare results with her old tests from when she first transformed. He also thought that it would make the turtles more… cooperative. I guess he was right. It looked like if Kara did it then the others knew it was safe and did it too. Now the only thing that I was worried about was the tests that had to do with us taking blood and shell fragments along with other things we would be interested in studying from them. As before, originally it was just the turtles but Lyle insisted on Kara having the same tests. They had to do the rest of the physical test and then we had to do IQ tests as well as taking tissue samples.   
  
I dearly wish that these mutants would get tired sometime soon. I had turned the treadmills up as fast as I dared to. Yet when I thought they were surly done and had no more energy left they would start to speed up again. Kara stayed at a steady quick lope. She seemed to pace herself more than the other subjects did. I started to doze off. Watching for changes in these subjects was deadly boring. When my head dropped down onto my chest I heard giggles. My head popped back up and I was wide-awake again for the time being. Kara was giggling and the others subjects were grinning fit to burst except for the red one who apparently liked to be called Raph. He was struggling to hide his laughter but a small smirk still appeared on his face. I looked around to see what they were laughing at but I couldn't find anything. Ten minutes later my eyelids started to drop again. This time I caught myself and shook my head a bit to help keep me alert. I looked more closely at the subjects. They had changed treadmills! In the time that I had dozed off which was maybe a few seconds they had traded treadmills! Kara stayed where she was so as not to give up the game but the turtles had moved around. They had just ruined my test! Now I didn't know how each individual turtle did. That one turtle, Raph, sneered at me. The others grinned too when they realized the gig was up.   
  
"Dude man, you need more sleep. You're dozin off at work. You don't want to get fired ya know," said the Mikey one.  
  
I finally gave up on the endurance test. They had messed it up, it didn't seem like they would be getting tired anytime soon, and there was no way I was going to start this test over right now to get correct results. I told them that the test was over and left the room. The sweepers would come in and get them after I saw how they reacted to being around Kara alone.   
  
END FIRST PERSON  
  
The guys sat talking with Kara. Don had found some towels in a cupboard, and Kara directed them to the showers she was in the last time she was here. They all took a shower while talking to each other through the brick wall that separated the showers into stalls.   
  
"I donno about you guys, but I sure did need a shower."  
  
"Haha, well ya know we're the lucky ones, Kara. We don't have to worry about cloths."  
  
"Ah the luxuries of being able to run around naked."  
  
The guys came out of the shower and Kara soon followed wearing the same cloths she had on when she went in. The guys put their belts and bandannas back on while Kara toweled her hair dry. Just after they were done getting freshened up a team of sweepers walked in holding tranquilizer guns. The group started to walk towards them when a rookie sweeper let a dart fly at Mikey. Mikey leaped to one side.   
  
"Hey dude, watch where you're shootin those things!"   
  
Another sweeper shot off a dart and this time Leo moved to avoid it.  
  
"Why do I get the feeling that they aren't looking for us to cooperate here?"  
  
"Because they don't want us back in our rooms, they want us knocked out."  
  
"So they can do what they couldn't do to us while we were awake," Don finished for Kara.  
  
"Cause we won't let 'em, or cause it is physically impossible?" Asked Raph as he ducked another missile.  
  
"As much as I'd like to say impossible, I'd have to say that they want us out cause we won't like what they want to do and it's too much of a danger keeping us awake," said Kara.   
  
The five dodged darts for what seemed like forever before the sweepers finally got it together that they had to shoot at the same target at the same time. In a matter of minutes all of them were on the ground trying to stay awake. The last thing they saw before they fell into the abyss of darkness were the sweepers advancing to take them to wherever they planned on taking them.  
  
A/N: Once again, please review, or else I might think that you all just up and left and then I might not be able to finish my story due to loneliness. (Ok, you all know I wouldn't just forget about a story, but if I don't get a review I'll feel awful bad!) 


	6. Round 2

Disclaimer: No hablo inglés. El Pretendiente no pertenece a mí. He he, there's something for those lawyers to chew on!! (Run it through a translator if you really, really want to know what it says... hint, it's in Spanish)  
  
A/N: I want to formally apologize to everybody for my mistakes. I read over all I have written for this story so far, and I was shocked. This wasn't how I wanted to portray my character (Takara). I made the people in the story seem super human like as if nothing could make them angry or sad. I am terribly sorry for that and will be trying to fix that in the coming chapters (starting with Jarod in this one). I am really sorry about that, and I hope you forgive me!! *Smiles*   
  
______________________________________________________________________________________  
  
8:00 am   
  
Miss Parker's Office  
  
SL-5  
  
The Centre  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Miss Parker sat at her desk going over the reports to Jarod's latest hideout when Broots scampered in, looking once more behind him to make sure no one was following him. Parker sat back in her chair, knowing the "I got something big to tell you" face when she saw it. She twirled a pencil between her perfectly manicured fingers and leaned back as she waited for the "big news" to come. Broots sat down in the opposite chair and the expression on his face changed from his "big news" expression to his "now I'm gonna ask you something so please don't kill me" face.   
  
"Miss Parker... uh, Lyle ordered me to go to Africa with him for a week. He said there are some technical difficulties down there that only I can deal with. I can't find anybody to watch Debbie. Uh... do you think that you could watch her?"  
  
Miss Parker was too preoccupied with wondering about Lyle to make some rude remark towards Broots-- much to his relief. She muttered that she would watch Debbie for the week and Broots broke into a big smile and left her office.  
  
Miss Parker stopped fidgeting with the pencil in her hand. Africa had a ton of technicians. Why would they need Broots? Miss Parker made a mental note to get to the bottom of Lyle's shenanigans the moment she had time. She heaved a deep sigh and went back to reviewing the reports.   
  
  
  
________________  
  
A few hours later  
  
Testing room 148  
  
SL-26  
  
The Centre   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
"You know, I really don't like this knock-us-out-and-take-us-where-you-want-us thing," mumbled Ralph as he tried to shake off the effects of the drugs.   
  
He opened his eyes to see that he wouldn't be able to get up even if he wanted to. He was strapped into a chair by steel cuffs around his arms, elbows, knees, ankles and neck. He couldn't even move his head to see if anybody else was in the room. He heard moans around him and accurately identified them as his brothers. He didn't hear Kara, though.   
  
"Where's Kara?" He asked once he figured his brothers were all awake.  
  
"I dunno," Leo answered honestly.   
  
Ralph was about to make a snide remark about the scientists when he felt a tingle run through him.   
  
"What the heck was that!?" He yelled.   
  
"I don't like the look of this," he heard Donny say to the right of him.   
  
"It looks like Electro shock. They want to see how much pain we can with stand."   
  
Just as he finished another tingle came-- this one slightly stronger.   
  
"So... I take it that we'll be here awhile?"  
  
"I think so, Mikey. They can only go to four hundred volts or so. It feels like they're starting at ten or so just to scare us. They'll work their way up until... well, you get the idea."  
  
"Hours of fun with electrical currents. Yippee," Ralph mocked.   
  
Yet another current came through their bodies. This time it felt like it had originated in the upper arm. The one after that was enough to make them all grunt.  
  
"So is it like possible to mediate right now?" Asked Mikey hoping that he wouldn't have to feel the effects of the rest of the test.  
  
"I don't think so, Mikey. That's why the shocks are coming so close together. They don't want us to be able to mediate," Leo explained.   
  
Another shock.   
  
"Son of a..." Ralph muttered.  
  
The shocks started coming more intensely and more frequently. It was past the point of yelling curses or expressing any displeasure. Now all they could do was sit and wither in the chairs they were bound to. Their muscles contracted repeatedly in protest against the amps going through them, and they were quickly tiring. Once in awhile one of them would let out a growl of frustration, but other than that and the constant buzzing of pent up electricity, the room was dead silent.   
  
After about an hour of intense pain, the locks to the cuffs suddenly popped open. All four of the guys jumped out of the chairs, afraid that they might still be able to be caused pain, despite their obvious exhaustion from the test. They were able to walk to the middle of the room, and then fell to the floor in a heap. The sweepers came into the room and Leo struggled to his feet. He helped his brothers up, and walked out of the room, not even waiting for the sweepers to "persuade" them with their tranquilizer guns.   
  
They bearly got into the door of their cell before they fell to the floor-- all of them refusing to take one more step. The scientists came in to clean Ralph's arm and check out the others. One bent down to Ralph's level.  
  
"Touch me and die," he growled from his position on the floor, sprawled out and spread-eagled.   
  
The doctor, seeing how serious Ralph was, backed away and out of the cage. Food was once more placed next to their door, and then all the scientists took their leave.   
  
"If I eat anything I'll puke," commented Don as he tried to roll over on his side.   
  
"That was the work out of my life, and all I had to do was sit there," joked Mikey as he closed his eyes against the bright lights outside their cage.   
  
"All I want to do is sleep for the rest of the week," Leo slurred, already starting to drift off to la-la land.   
  
"Maybe a nice, long, non-drug- induced sleep would do us all some good," Don suggested as he rolled once more so that he was resting on his plastron using his arms for a pillow.   
  
Soon they were all snoring. A scientist rushed around, grabbing data from the tests, jotting down notes about the sleeping turtles, and running genetic tests from the blood, skin and shell fragments that had been taken from the turtles while they were knocked out.   
  
Dr. Kozwell sat in her chair facing the cage that held the mutant reptiles. They all lay sprawled near the entrance of their cage, snoring for all they were worth. The food lay untouched in one corner. What were these strange creatures, and why were they in the New York sewers? So far a lot had been discovered about the animals. The endurance test was a complete disaster but they did find out that they had a somewhat high endurance level and liked to challenge it. They also knew about personal hygiene from the fact that they took showers. The results from the Electro shock were not back yet, though. Kozwell was in charge of the next test. Chutuck was originally in charge, but he had messed up the endurance test and was probably going to pay dearly for it.   
  
Kozwell snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed movement in the cage. The orange turtle kicked the red turtle in his sleep. The red turtle whacked him across the head in return. Where these animals really sleeping? They had to be! With the test that they had just endured there was no way that they could just be pretending to sleep. The orange one went to punch the red one but the red one blocked it. They seemed to settle down again and all was silent. Kozwell got up to make sure someone had made a note of what had happened. She didn't need to worry about the subjects waking up any time soon; they would be out for the next few hours.   
  
  
  
_________  
  
4:30 pm  
  
SL-22,   
  
Jarod's cell  
  
The Centre  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Jarod sat on the floor of his cell counting the black specks in the concrete. It took him nine hours to get one sixteenth of the floor done. After he was done with that, he was going to count the scratches in the bars. Lyle was definitely giving him the silent treatment. He was brought meals twice and let out of his cell to do his business three times. Nothing was on a schedule. Lyle must have made sure that everything was completely random so that the pretender could not plan things by when guards changed and meals were brought. They had let him out of the cuffs six hours ago, but nobody had said anything. Jarod was on dot three million eight hundred sixty-two when the door beeped. Jarod looked up to see Lyle walk in with a trademark grin on his face. Jarod didn't bother to stand up. He just sat in his corner looking up at Lyle. 'I want to wipe the grin off his face so bad' he thought as Lyle stepped inside the room, his hands stuffed in his pockets nonchalantly.   
  
"I wanted to be the first to welcome you home, Jarod, and to tell you the good news."   
  
"You just saved a bunch of money by switching to GEICO?"   
  
Lyle looked at him, confused for a second, then shrugged it off and continued.   
  
"We have customers by the hundreds lined up just because of those freaks you were with. Doesn't it feel great knowing that you're the reason they're in a cage performing tricks for the crowd?"   
  
As Lyle talked he slowly stepped closer and crouched down right in front of Jarod. Jarod's jaw noticeably set at the mention of the turtles, and Lyle straightened and took a few steps back having made his point. Two sweepers came forward in his place and pulled Jarod to his feet. They all walked to the sim lab, standing in a straight line, though sweepers flanked Jarod on the way. The pretender counted five doors until he got to the sim lab. There was no other hallways or corridors. The sweepers shoved him into a chair that was set in front of a metal table. The table's top was covered in files. Jarod picked one up and looked at it. It was a blood analysis. The blood, although having some human components in it, was not normal. Jarod figured that he was either looking at Kara's, or one of the turtle's blood work. Whatever Lyle had planned, it wasn't good. Jarod picked up another file. It contained the chemical break down of some object. It contained large amounts of calcium. 'This is definitely the file on the turtles. Now what do they want me to do with them?' thought Jarod as he continued to sift through what was in front of him. There was different test, notes, and theories. There was a lot there for only nine hours.   
  
"What are they?"   
  
Jarod looked up to see that Lyle was right in front of him.   
  
"There is a chemical that our scientists could not break down into any elements. Your job is to find out what it is."  
  
Jarod grinned. The Centre scientists were unstoppable. They did everything first and nothing ever stumped them for too long, especially a simple blood analysis or chemical breakdown. There were things that they could do with this that could harm people. Splinter had told Jarod about their mutation, and unless he was wrong, this unidentified chemical was probably what made them what they were. If The Centre could find a way to manipulate this chemical then they could have other uses for it.   
  
"Nope. I'm not going to help you Lyle."   
  
Before Jarod could get any more furious then he already was, he felt a stinging flame hit his back with a snap. He winced and looked back to see a sweeper wielding a whip with three small sharp metal balls attached to the end. 'It's gonna be a long day,' thought Jarod glumly as the sweeper readied himself for another strike.  
  
__________  
  
2:30 pm  
  
SL-26  
  
Sim lab 201  
  
The Centre  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Kara awoke with a start. Someone was close... too close. She jumped up into a crouch. Someone was behind her, and she didn't even take time to turn around to see who it was. She threw herself to the left and watched the offender fall as he missed the target he was trying to tackle. Kara looked around. She was in the sim lab that was built to be a forest. Last time was kind of fun, but Kara felt that this time was not going to be the same. Nonetheless she was still mad about getting darted. This room was huge and she could elude the sweepers for a long time if she wanted to. Plus, if she wasted their time that meant that she wouldn't have to go back to her room so soon. Her ears pricked at the sound of someone trying to walk silently and the sound of someone else trying to move through the trees with stealth. She moved off in the opposite direction with out a sound. The best place to hide was always in plain sight.   
  
She walked over to a huge rock that was at least three times her height and stayed in sight long enough for the sweeper at ground level to see her. She then went around the other side of the rock, making them think she was going to play the walk-around-until-someone-makes-a-mistake game. The sweeper in the trees came down to sandwich her in. One sweeper went around one side of the rock the other one went the opposite way. Kara quickly scaled the rock with little effort on her part. The sweepers snuck around the side of the rock with their guns drawn. They ended up telling each other to freeze. Kara silently chuckled to herself and leaped up into the branches above her. She balanced there for a second, and then darted off. She stayed in the trees until she got to a wall. She sat there, waiting patiently for her opponents to betray their position. She didn't have to wait long. To her left she heard two sets of feet coming in her direction. They were not the same. These footsteps were heavier and they walked on their toes, not their heels. Not knowing how many sweepers she was up against, Kara decided to start knocking some out. As the footsteps got closer she quickly decided on the moves she was going to use. A man passed under the tree she was sitting in and another one was three feet to the right of him. Kara took a chance. She jumped out of the tree and tried to perform the split kick that she had been practicing. The extra height the tree gave her was an advantage. She successfully knocked the two guys to the ground, three more running towards the sound when they heard the bodies falling to the ground. Kara took to her feet and ran through the simulated woods, dodging trees and hopping over bushes. The sweepers had no chance whatsoever of keeping up.   
  
Kara slowed down when she thought she had lost them. She was about to go back and try a different tactic when sweepers with guns stepped out of the surrounding foliage. They had her cornered. She sat down right in the middle of them to show her submission, and the lights came on fully in the room. The sweepers led Kara out of the woods, and she saw Dr. Bo sitting just outside of the fake tree line. Kara walked over to him and allowed gave him a smile, inwardly seething. He smiled back at her and gave her a curt nod.   
  
"I hate you," Kara stated.   
  
"Hate is a very strong word, Kara."  
  
"And it is appropriate for this situation. You lock up every person that is different all for the sake of science. You don't seem to have a conscience. You spend every waking moment in this depressing place. I think I have a right to hate you."  
  
Bo sat there, and understood what Kara wouldn't say. She didn't hate him... she hated The Centre. She was expressing her feelings safely by replacing the true object of her hate with him. Bo couldn't blame her, personally. The poor kid had her life uprooted and now she was back in a place she didn't want to be. Bo smiled at her again to show that he understood her need to yell at him. The sweepers moved closer to take her back to her room for the night. She went in a huff, completely enraged about her predicament.   
  
___________  
  
6:00 pm  
  
Parker's house  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
"I already have the guest room made up for you, Debbie."   
  
Parker stepped into the house and set her stuff down to take off her coat. Debbie followed her into the house, still holding her backpack full of clothes. She followed her to the guestroom and set down her bag, and then walked around the room and looked up, giving Parker a big smile.   
  
"Thank you for letting me stay here, Miss Parker."  
  
"No problem, Kiddo. Your dad says he's going to be gone for awhile, so I was thinking-- how would you like to go to the zoo with me this Saturday?"  
  
Debbie's eyes lit up like the forth of July.   
  
"Really!? Oh, Miss Parker, I would love that so much!"   
  
Parker laughed. "Ok, but you have to promise me you will be good this week. Deal?"  
  
"Oh I will, Miss Parker! Don't worry, I will!"   
  
"Good, now get ready for dinner. How does spaghetti sound? The boxed kind, though; I don't want to kill you with my cooking."   
  
___________  
  
5:00 am  
  
SL-26  
  
Kara's room  
  
The Centre   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Kara sat on her bed staring at the ceiling. Being in her cell was deadly boring. She sat thinking about her situation. Jarod was nowhere insight and as for Splinter, she didn't have any idea what they would do to him. He was old and he would be stubborn about the tests. There would be no way they would get him to do even the simplest ones.   
  
Her mind wandered to Dr. Bo. She felt kind of bad for him. He wasn't meant to be here. The poor guy must have been forced into being in The Centre. Everyday he came in with the same expression on his face. He had a hidden fear of this place. Kara couldn't figure him out. He was here, yet he didn't want to be. Didn't he have a family? He really needed someone to rescue him before he becamecorrupted like all the others.  
  
And what would happen to them when the hard stuff came? What would happen when the terrorist Sims were apart of daily life for her? What would happen when the scientists got bored of seeing what the turtles could do?   
  
Kara got up and started to pace. She needed to get some anger out. In one fluid motion she got on the flow and started doing push-ups. When she got tired of them she went to sit ups, then crunches, and then she started fighting imaginary opponents. She repeated everything over and over again. She only got more furious as she worked. She punched her imaginary Lyle in the face, and then kicked him in the gut. Her pretend Lyle was killed quite a few times before she started to tire. She let off her attack and went over to the corner to sit. She was breathing heavily and still had the fire of anger in her eyes. Without realizing it, she went into meditation. She sat on the floor, her eyes closed, thinking about the upcoming day one second, and the next second she was at peace and wandering through her own mind again. Once she realized what she was doing she almost came out of it, but she stayed, knowing that she had a few hours to herself before everyone came to work.   
  
____________  
  
8:00 am  
  
SL-5  
  
Miss Parker's office  
  
The Centre   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
Miss Parker walked into her office with Debbie at her side. She motioned for Debbie to sit, and the girl walked over to the computer chair and took a seat.   
  
Miss Parker sat at her desk to start reading over memos. She informed Debbie that she could play on the computer or work on the things she brought, and that they would go out to lunch at noon. Debbie didn't have to go to school because it was an in-service day, and so Parker had no choice but to bring her to work with her though she hated Debbie being in The Centre.   
  
Parker started through the large pile of memos on her desk. One by one she went through them and signed them, or filed them. Then she got to one that was not hers. The sweeper that delivered it must have gotten the wrong office. She read it any way. It was a memo to her father from Raines, and it was about Jarod! It said that he was coming along on project Mutate. How was that possible? Jarod was outside The Centre. Parker had just chased a lead on him yesterday. Then it hit her. Leaving her stunned in shock and rage. Lyle was setting false leads for her!   
  
"Debbie, stay here. I have to go talk to somebody."  
  
Parker swept out of the room and down the hall towards Lyle's office. He was going to get a piece of her mind. NOBODY set false trails for a Parker! She was mad at him the last time he did this, but this time she was furious. 'He had better have one heck of an alibi if he wants to get off the hook this time!' She stormed down the hall with the crumpled memo still in her hand.   
  
She threw the doors to Lyle's office open and strutted in, ferocity in her steps. Lyle was not there yet, but she could wait. She could wait forever to ring his neck for this one!   
  
____________  
  
8:00 am  
  
SL-26  
  
Turtle's cell  
  
The Centre  
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
  
  
Mikey stood and stretched. He may have slept for eleven hours, but it sure didn't feel like it. He had been woken up numerous times during the night from the beeps of different equipment or just the constant droning of the computer terminals. No scientist had stayed during the night, but no doubt they would review the tapes from the security cameras to makes sure they had missed nothing. Don was in the corner practicing his kattas. Leo was on the floor meditating and Ralph... Ralph was just pacing back and forth waiting for his chance to clobber someone. Mikey sat on the floor beside Leo and closed his eyes. He had learned long ago that there was no snapping his brothers out of kattas or mediation, and if he tried to talk to Ralph, well, it just wouldn't turn out good. Mikey did figure out years ago that he could tease his brothers somewhat if they were mediating.   
  
Each person has a vibe that they give off. When they are in mediation their vibes become stronger. They are so strong in fact that it can turn into a way of communication. The brothers could sense feelings through the vibes. Mikey would often meditate when his brothers were and send them intense feelings of happiness right when he sensed they were trying to concentrate. They would get quite mad. He had no intention of doing so right now, though. He just wanted to let Leo know how he felt about this whole thing of being captured.  
  
An hour later the scientists came in with their breakfast. Dr. Chutuck followed in behind them. The sweepers were there too, but they didn't have dart guns. Mikey promptly jumped up and lightly punched Chutuck in the face. Nonetheless he fell to the floor with his hand over his face.  
  
"What was that for!?" He yelled, his voice muffled from his hand.   
  
Mikey looked around as if he was he didn't know who the doctor was talking to then he smiled at the realization it was himself. He broke into a grin and pointed a finger at Leo.   
  
"Leo told me too!"   
  
Leo opened one eye and glared at Mikey.   
  
"I told you it wasn't a bad idea. Dude bro, you need some practice."  
  
He then closed his eyes again and was gone to the world. Mikey glared at Leo jokingly.   
  
"Thanks a lot, dude."   
  
Mikey turned back to Chutuck who was now back on his feet again but still had his left had over his now broken nose.   
  
"Uh... er... he he, no hard feelings?"   
  
Chutuck glared at Mikey and tried to regain some dignity by straightening his posture and puffing his chest out.   
  
"You didn't come in here for nothin'. What do you want?" Ralph quipped irritably as he itched at his unwounded arm. His fingers ran over an unfamiliar bump and he looked down at his upper arm. There, injected into his green skin was a tattoo... an ID tattoo. The rough spot he had felt was just below the mark in his arm that read CT12. He looked up at his brothers to see all their arms coded in a similar fashion. Ralph walked over Chutuck, and in a blink of an eye he had him by his shirt collar, shoved up against the far wall of their cell.  
  
"What do you think this is?" Yell Ralph motioning towards his arm.   
  
The doctor tried his hardest to smile a bit. Ralph slammed him into the wall again for emphasis.  
  
"I'm not going to be branded like some cattle stock!" He screamed.   
  
Chutuck made eye contact with someone out side of the cage. Suddenly Ralph let go of Chutuck with a yelp and went down to the floor clasping his ID coded arm. Ralph continued to lie groaning on the floor until Chutuck was out of the cage. His brothers rushed over to him but Donny motioned for them to stay back. Finally the pain seemed to let up and Ralph got up with a grunt. He scratched some more at the bump, knowing that whatever it was it was causing the pain. He tried to scratch it out, but to no avail.   
  
"What I wouldn't give for fingernails right now," he mumbled.   
  
Another scientist came to the door.  
  
"You are to come out one at a time. You are to be separated for your IQ tests."  
  
The door beeped and Leo stepped out when all of his brothers gave him the "you go, not me" look. A scientist led Leo off to another room. The sweeper didn't tag along, because each scientist now held a remote control device that caused the electric shock Ralph has suffered from. One by one they were led out of the cage to different rooms to start their second day of tests.  
  
___________  
  
8:08 am  
  
SL-22   
  
Jarod's cell  
  
The Centre   
  
Blue Cove, Delaware  
  
"... the call is free, one-eight-hundred safe auto. Play it safe, safe auto."  
  
"What? No more cree craw toad's foot?" Lyle mocked.  
  
"The techs up in the lab get bored with that one. I decided to give them a variety," said Jarod, grinning at Lyle.   
  
His stay in The Centre may not be pleasant but there was no way he was letting Lyle know that. Jarod stood with a groan as the sweepers came in. The whipping that he had endured the day before had left his back in tatters. There was no sense in wearing a shirt anymore, seeing as the material touching the still open and much-agitated wounds only caused more pain. The sweepers surrounded Jarod and shoved him out of the cell.   
  
'Here we go again' thought Jarod as he was led to the room he had deemed "The Torture Room".  
  
To Jarod's surprise they didn't stop when they reached the correct door. The sweepers kept on going until they got to the door for the elevator. While they waited for the elevator to reach ground level one sweeper pulled out a pair of manacles that bound the subject's hands together and ran down and around the feet. He put them on Jarod and all the sweepers drew their guns and pointed them at the master pretender. They certainly weren't taking any chances.   
  
They got out of the elevator and the sweepers pressed in close to Jarod, making escape impossible. To Jarod's surprise they walked right out of the building. The sweepers ushered Jarod over to a black van and shoved him in. A few sweepers climbed in after him and chained him to the bench he sat on. A driver climbed in the front and they were off. If they were going somewhere why didn't they just drug him? There was much more of a chance of him escaping while he was awake than if he was knocked out. A MUCH better chance!   
  
They drove along for what seemed like forever. There was no use in making false turns and delaying the time it took to get to their destination. Jarod knew these streets like the back of his hand. They drove for about a half hour before the van finally stopped in what Jarod thought was the middle of nowhere. The sweeper to Jarod's left opened the back door to the van but remained sitting. Then they waited. Jarod could see that they were facing a pretty desolate back road. When a car finally did come, Lyle, who came in another car, tried to flag it down but it kept on going. Two more cars came and went before the forth one finally slowed down. A middle-aged women stepped out of the car. Jarod could see two children in the back seat playing some childish game to ward off the boredom of the long drive. Lyle gave the women a relieved smile.  
  
"Thank goodness you stopped!" He exclaimed as he walked towards her. "We have been here waiting forever for someone to help us! Bless you."  
  
He pulled out a gun.  
  
"You're going to need it."   
  
Two sweepers stepped behind the lady cutting off her escape route. Her eyes widened and she tried to scream but someone covered her mouth. She was led to the van where Jarod was being held. She struggled the whole time but the man behind her kept her from going anywhere but where he wanted.   
  
When Lyle came strolling up, Jarod's eyes where like saucers and his jaw was working angrily. He tried to spring up but the chains were holding him down. Lyle smiled and waved his gun about aimlessly.  
  
"Someone once told me don't gamble anything you aren't willing to lose. Now, everything back at The Centre that means something to you, I'm not willing to lose, but there is one thing that means nothing to me that you would be willing to die for, Jarod. Human life. Now seeing as this young lady was kind enough to volunteer I'm going to give you a choice Jarod. Be a good boy and behave, or let her get killed execution style in front of those kids over there.  
  
The kids had stopped playing their game and now had their noses pressed up against the window calling for their mommy in fear. The lady looked back at them, angst written all over her features.  
  
"So what's it going to be, Jarod? I can start off by killing her and just keep on grabbing people from the street, their homes, their offices... or you can be a good boy. For every wrong you do and every disrespect you show me another person will die."   
  
Jarod's mind worked furiously. He balanced his choices. Either he continued to refuse to do Sims and watch people die before his very eyes or he do the Sims and people die because of what he thought up. He could always botch the Sims or delay them as long as possible.  
  
"No Lyle, don't. I'll do the Sims, just don't kill her."   
  
"Well I think I'm going to have to, purely for insurance of your corporation."  
  
With that, Lyle shot the lady in the head as Jarod watched, screaming in horror. The kids in the car screamed for their mommy, but cowered in the far corner when a sweeper came to retrieve them from their tiny alcove. Lyle shoved his gun back in its holster and walked off the car awaiting him, stepping over the lady's body as he went. A sweeper climbed into the van and closed the doors. The driver started up the engine and they started their way back to The Centre.   
  
Jarod sat on the bench with his eyes closed tightly, trying to get the image of Lyle shooting that poor girl down out of his head. He was the cause of all of this. If he hadn't been so stupid as to get himself caught in the first place that lady would never had been killed and those kids would still have a mom. He raised a manacled hand to rub his face in silent anguish, wondering "what next?"  
  
______________________________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: Once again, please review! (Hint: R&R doesn't mean rest and relaxation!!) 


	7. Sadness and Madness

A/n: Once again I am really, really sorry for the late update. Maybe the next story I'll write it all before I start to post. Like I said, I am really, really sorry. I will try to do better next time! 

Disclaimer: I do own four turtles but they are not mutants and I certainty don't own any humans!! …Well, except for that whole human cloning lab that I have… Oops! That was top secret! *Smiles and shrugs her shoulders carelessly* Oh well!

P.S. Thanks bunches to my beta reader, ShadowElfBard. I don't know what I would do without you! I also want to formally apologize… again. You see every time I typed Raph, Shadow would change it to Ralph. It was just a silly little misunderstanding but I want you all to know that the red, hot headed turtle is name Raphael, Raph for short. 

*****

8:30 AM

Office off to the side of the room where the turtle's cell is

SL 26

The Center 

Blue Cove, Delaware

Raph sat in the chair opposite of the doctor who had led him into the room, with his feet propped up on the desk that separated them. The office was a normal, small office. The only way out was through the lab, so Raph sat back and decided to enjoy the ride. The doctor got out a clipboard as Raph picked up a paperweight and started to toss it in the air.

The doctor pulled out three blocks with pictures on them from underneath his desk and set them side-by-side next to Raph's feet. 

"Can you show me the apple? Find me the aaaapple," he said as he moved his hand in the sign language form of the word apple. 

Ralph stared at the doctor and looked at the blocks with the airplane, cat, and apple on them alternately. Finally he sighed and picked up the apple with his toes.

"Bite your tongue and say apple," he muttered as he deposited it into the doctor's waiting hand.

"Good turtle!!" the scientist exclaimed. 

"Yeah, I'm a good turtle. Joy and happiness," Ralph mocked. 

"Count to 100, please."

"One, two, skip a few, ninety- nine, a hundred. Your next question had better not be what two plus two is!" Ralph said, shaking his finger warningly at the man. 

The man smiled. "What's one plus one?"

Raph growled. "Two! It's two! Ok? And cat is spelt C-A-T! Now how about we get on to the harder stuff?! I mean, I think I can at least handle algebra or somethin' like that, for goodness sakes!" 

Raph sat back in his chair again and immediately cursed himself. He had promised himself that he wouldn't act like a loose cannon… and he had just brought himself one step closer to a place he didn't want to be. 

*****

8:30 am

Blue Cove, Delaware 

The Centre 

SL 5

Lyle's office

WARNING: FIRST PERSON **MISS PARKER**

Lyle walked into his office straightening his tie and whistling a merry tune. I didn't miss a beat. I slammed him up against the door as soon as it had closed and held him there, digging my fingernails into his windpipe to help get my message across.

"You know," I whispered in his ear. "Some people never learn. I told you once never to double cross me but you didn't listen. You're back to setting false leads for me on Jarod. To make matters worse, I have been in here for half an hour stewing. Now I am going to ask you once, and if I don't get an answer I like then I am going to rip your innards out and feed them to you. Now, where do you have Jarod and how the hell did you catch him?" 

"If you let me go I'll tell you," he gasped.

"I highly doubt that," I said, but let him fall to the ground at my feet. 

My eyes sparkled a bit at the fact that Lyle was in a way bowing at my feet. I crouched down to his level, as he was too busy gasping for air to come to mine.

"Now," I said sweetly as I lifted his head with two of my fingertips under his chin. "There is something that you want to tell me?"

"I have a friend in New York that spotted Jarod and Kara. We caught them and brought them back. Simple as that."

"No, not simple as that. If it were as simple as that they both would have gotten away without any problem. What did you do different?"

"We brought tranquilizer guns with us."

"Hmm… You bring tranquilizer guns to catch two escaped pretenders? Interesting. Where do you have them?"

"Same cells they were in last time. Kara's vent has been removed and Jarod is not being taken off his floor for anything that isn't imperative. 

I got up from the floor in one smooth motion. I stepped over Lyle's body as he let himself slump back on the floor, still trying to catch his breath. I opened the door, moving Lyle's body away with it in the process, and walked out of his office. 

He gets me so irritated sometimes with his shenanigans. I really felt like slamming my heel into his stomach and twisting it around with all my weight until something burst and he bleed to death, but daddy wouldn't like that very much. But I am pretty sure that the janitors would have been all too happy to clean up a mess like that. I know I would be.

*****

10:00 am

Blue Cove, Delaware 

The Centre 

SL 26 

Kara's room

WARNING: FIRST PERSON **DR. BO**:

I walked into Kara's room as the door slid open, and she noticeably jumped at the beep of the lock. Instead of greeting me like she normally did with a witty remark or grin, she crouched and flattened herself onto the floor as close as she could get, as if wishing to become one with the concrete. Her red, tear stained face was conspicuous to me. She quickly tried to cover up the frightened look on her face. When she saw it was I at the door and not whom she had expected, she calmed down somewhat and let anger replace her previous anxiety. 

I went over and sat on the bed, sensing a talk in the immediate future. Kara came over and sat before me; though not as close as she normally would. She was still scared and edgy. 

"What happened?" I asked.

"They used her against me," she mumbled with barely controlled fury. "It wasn't enough to kill her. They had to take pictures and manipulate her in every way imaginable. They just couldn't let her rest in peace." 

She let out a scream of rage and punched the floor in front of her with all her might. I heard a crack and knew I would need to take a look at her hand to make sure she did no real damage. She continued to ramble on. I listened in hope that she might reveal what had made her feel so helpless. 

*****

FLASH BACK **TWO HOURS AGO**

SL 26 

Sim lab 119

Lyle walked into the sim lab. There were two sweepers there either side of Kara, and Lyle motioned for them to stay where they were.

"Hello Takara," he greeted in a bright cheery voice.

Kara flashed him an imprudent grin. Lyle took a picture out of the file he was holding. He let it fall to the floor right in front of Kara.

"Remember mommy?" he whispered.

Kara gasped audibly and picked up the picture of her mother. It depicted her mother riding a horse bareback. She cradled the picture in her hands for a few moments. Lyle let another picture drop to the floor, but this time Kara recoiled at the sight of it. She tried to scoot back farther against the wall but the sweepers held her still. It showed a picture of her mother barely alive next to what used to be a car. Lyle was propping her up on his leg, smiling. 

"You know she didn't die right away when Willie ran her off the road. She got her back broken from the impact hitting the tree, but she was still alive. She managed to pull herself from the car by the time I got to her. We had a nice little talk about you. I told her about the life I would so generously give you. She told me that she thought this would be a good place for you to grow and not be held back by other people."

"Liar!" Kara screamed. 

"If you don't believe me then listen to the tape." 

Lyle pulled out a recorder and clicked 'Play'. 

" 'Maybe that would be a good place for her. I always felt like I was holding her back. Now I know I was.' "

Lyle clicked it off. Now Kara was on her feet the sweepers were hard pressed to hold her back. She had tears streaming down her face. 

"No!! Liar!! She wouldn't _say_ that!!" She fell to her knees crying. "She wouldn't say that!"

Lyle threw down yet another picture. This one was one taken from a Centre security camera. It was her mother on an autopsy table.

"Thanks to your mother we've found out a lot about what makes pretenders, pretenders."

This time Kara puked all over the floor right at Lyle's feet. She was seeing pictures of her own mother being opened up and studied like some sort of animal. 

"We never buried her. She is still here. Just in case you feel the need to be close to her." 

Kara's heart wrenching sobs could be heard through the whole sub level as the sweepers carried her back to her cell.

*****

12:00 pm 

Blue Cove, Delaware 

The Centre 

Turtle's Cell 

SL 26

"Leo, it's not going to work! You shouldn't have even brought it up! And this is how they got the idea to put those things in our arms. They did it to control us 'cause YOU gave away the plan!" Raph screamed. 

He and Leo had started fighting as soon as they got back from the IQ test ten minutes ago. 

"What else am I supposed to do, Raph!? Am I supposed to tell you all about escape plans through telepathy?! Is that it, Raphael? You want us all to become mind readers?"

"Well maybe if you just kept your plans to yourself, Leonardo, until we were alone, we would have a better chance of concealing it!"

"When are ever alone, Raph?!"

"So now you're tryin' to make me look dumb?!" 

Raph shoved Leo. 

"You said it, not me!"

He shoved Raph back. Raph charged. The brothers went tumbling to the ground throwing punches at each other. The scientists outside the cage went berserk. 

"Should we shock them both?"

"No, let them fight. It is a fight of dominance, I think. If it gets too bad we may have to shock them, but if we do it now they'll only fight again later on."

"Why would it be a fight of dominance? They have lived together in the same environment for a long time, right?"

"If you've noticed, they had deep cuts in their plastrons and carapaces. They must have fought before this."

Inside the cage Mikey and Don were talking quietly as if totally unfazed by the ruckus their other brothers were making.

"I say it lasts ten seconds."

"I say thirty. Remember last time?"

"Do you have your watch on, Donny?"

"No, they took it."

"Oh well, one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…"

Mikey continued to count the seconds the fight would last. Don, having nothing else to do, started calling out advice to his bros.

"Nice reverse punch, Raph. Sweet dragon kick, Leo. Are you gonna let him beat you, Raph?"

Mikey stopped counting for a moment.

"You know, you aren't making it any better, bro."

Donny shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing's going to make it better. Might as well enjoy the fight." 

Mikey laughed and continued to count. Meanwhile Leo and Raph had changed from kickboxing to wrestling. They were on the ground rolling round and round. Every once in awhile they would make a snide remark to one another, but other than that they were silent. Suddenly Raph jumped off the floor. Leo soon followed suit. They changed their fighting style to street fighting. Raph tried to take Leo's head off with a foolish swing of his right fist. Leo retaliated by ducking and giving Raph a quick upper cut to his exposed face. Raph went down and Leo pursued him. He was about to give Raph a quick rap to the head with his knuckles when Mikey came up behind him and caught his clenched hand in his own. 

"Hey! Leo! Dude bro, you don't really wanna do that do ya?"

Don was near Raph in case he decided that the fight wasn't over yet. Leo looked in bewilderment from his hand that Mikey still held to Raph on the floor trying hard to get his jaw working right again. 

"Aw man!! Raph!! I'm really sorry, dude! I don't know what came over me!"

Mikey let go of him when he saw the fight was over, and Leo walked over to help Raph up. He took the offered help as he worked his mouth a bit. 

"It's okay, Leo. You have a right to be dumb sometimes."

He laughed. " If I remember right, Raph… you were the one who charged me."

"Well you…"

"Guys, guys!" interrupted Donny. "Let's not have a rematch, huh? I think if you have another go at it those dudes out there are gonna go off the deep end."

Surly enough when they all looked through the cage bars, all the scientists were staring at them, slack jawed. A few of them looked woozy and about to drop over. At the sight Raph laughed evilly, grinned, and waved. A few of the scientists waved back, too stunned to do anything else. This only made Raph's grin widen

*****

1:00 pm

Blue Cove, Delaware 

Blue Cove Zoo 

Reptile Exhibit

"George is a Galapagos Tortoise, otherwise known as _geochelone elephantophus abingdoni_. There are eleven sub species of the Galapagos tortoise and George is the only one of his sub species left. For some reason he doesn't seem to want to mate with any of the sub species that are closely related to him. George is approximately 50 to 80 years old and can live from 150 to 200 years…"

The voice of the trainer rambled on.

"Look, Miss Parker!! It's a big turtle!" Debbie squealed as she pointed towards an enclosure.

"That's not a turtle, Debbie. It's a tortoise. He is one of the biggest tortoises in the world."

"Wow, really? I bet you could ride on him just like a horse."

"You can. In fact, that's what people did in the olden days. They would ride on them for sport. They would also use their fat for oil. That's why there is only one left."

"Only one? Doesn't he get lonely? What about a wife?"

Miss Parker laughed a bit. "Yes, he probably does get lonely. Do you want to go say hi to him?"

"Can I?"

"Sure… I took the rest of the day off so after this we can go out to dinner together."

"Thanks, Miss Parker."

"Any time, Debbie."

The truth was that when Miss Parker had tried to gain access to Jarod's cell she was completely blown off. No one was allowed down there except for the most experienced sweepers and people cleared by Lyle. She had been so angry that she had taken the rest of the day off. There wasn't much she could do anyway. Jarod was caught and Kyle was dead. Her job was done. 

"Hi, George. My name's Debbie. If you feel lonely, I can be your friend. I get lonely sometimes, too."

'Oh great', Parker thought, 'now Debbie is spilling her guts to a giant reptile.' 

"Come on, Debbie. Let's go see the elephants. We can come back and see George later."

Parker held out her hand, and Debbie jumped from her perch on the fence that separated the tortoise enclosure and the public walkway. They started walking towards the African safari segment of the zoo, when a keeper with a snowy Bengal Tiger on a chain walked by. Debbie's eyes grew huge.

"Look, Miss Parker! It's a huge kitty! He looks like my kitty only much, much bigger!"

The keeper stopped and took his time to let the tiger perform a trick for Debbie. She squealed with delight at seeing such a big 'kitty' dancing on his hind legs. Parker couldn't help but smile. This kid was so happy to see the smallest things. You could probably give her a balloon and she would be forever in your debt.

*****

1:00 PM

Blue Cove, Delaware 

The Centre 

SL 26

Kara's cell

After Kara had finished telling her tale she sat in Dr. Bo's arms and cried with bitter sobs. He rocked her back and forth, murmuring soothing words to her. Her tears finally subsided and she sat in his arms gasping for air. He pulled her away gently to look her in the eye.

"When was the last time you ate?" 

Kara sniffled a bit and wiped a few stray tears away from her raw, red eyes. 

"Um… I had some oatmeal crap yesterday when they brought me back from my physical endurance test."

Bo got up and left the cell. "I will be back in a minute." 

He came back carrying a tray consisting of deer meat, string beans, pineapple, and milk. He set it in front of her. She looked at the food for a moment as if in deep thought. Finally she took a deep breath, swallowing back an uneven gasp. She took up the fork and began to eat. 

After she had eaten, she remained unresponsive. Any question Dr. Bo would ask, no matter how small or unimportant, was either answered with a slight movement of the head or a few simple words. Bo stopped his questioning for a moment. He studied Kara's straight face, devoid of any emotion. Finally he got up from his perch and walked wordlessly out of her cell. Kara didn't seem to notice. She moved back to her corner, not even bothering to try and trip a guard with her food tray. 

Moments later Dr. Bo reappeared at the door. The door didn't beep when he walked in, to Kara's surprise. He had purposely left it unlocked so as not to scare her again. 

"Kara? There is someone here that I think will help you."

Kara didn't bother to look up. She only raised her head enough to see the feet of Bo and his friend. The feet of his companion were green! Kara's head shot up to meet with the eyes of Raph. She gave him a painful gaze and dropped her head. Raph rushed over to her as she started to cry again. She clung to him as he rocked her back and forth and ran his few fingers through her hair. 

"Shh… it's ok. I'm here. Whatever they did to you, it doesn't matter. They did it to make you act this way. You can't let them win," he soothed.

"I don't wanna talk 'bout it," came Kara's muffled voice. 

"Hey, it's fine if you don't wanna talk about it. I can understand that. But I'm gonna stay here until you feel better, ok?"

"Why'd they let you come?"

"I donno… they played ennie meanie minie moe and I was picked." 

Kara pulled back from Raph slightly and wiped her eyes once more. She gave a dry chuckle at the thought of the scientists trying to decide on which turtle to let out of their cage.

"So they let you guys stay together?"

"Yeah. Don said it had something to do with mental stability… I donno."

Kara pulled back a bit more and noticed the tattoo now imprinted on Raph's right arm. She ran her fingertips over it lightly with concern on her face. 

"Raph… they did this to you?"

"Yeah, and it seems to be our new names now." he chuckled. "Mikey says it makes us sound like secret agents."

"Ha, not far from it, dude."

Ralph caught Kara's chin in his hand and looked her in the eyes.

"You okay, now?"

"No… I don't think I'll ever be okay. I just think I'm all cried out. They killed my mom, Raph. Not only did they kill her, but they used her to see if the parents had anything to do with pretenders being pretenders. They used her and disgraced her body in every way imaginable. I just… I just… uh!!"

Kara went to slam her fist into the floor again but Raph caught it and held her hand lightly. 

"You don't wanna do that. It hurts more after the adrenaline dissipates. The same thing that is keeping you from being property of The Centre, Kara, is the same thing that has kept your mother from feeling any pain or injustice. That body they experimented on is just a carcass, an empty carcass not housing any life. Your mom has gone to a better place Kara. Her spirit is the only thing that can be shamed or disgraced. Her body can't feel that. I'm not saying that what they did was right, but I am saying that wherever your mother is right now, she doesn't feel any of that dishonor. One day we can pay them back for all they have done to you, Kara, but we can't do that if you don't have your heart in the right place. You can't be blinded by anger. You can't let it cloud your judgment. I promise one day fate will give them what they deserve. I promise."

He hugged Kara again to emphasize his point. She hugged him back for a few moments.

"Thanks, Raph… I needed that."

"Ha ha, well you're not the only one. I just got over a big fight with Leo."

"How big?"

"Huge! Mikey said it lasted a full minute before we finally came to our senses."

"I'm not even gonna ask how it started."

"Good, 'cause I don't rightly know."

Bo decided to take this time to butt in. "Are you starting to feel back to your old self, Kara?"

"If I say no then could Raph stay?"

"I'm afraid not. Dr. Chutuck is going to have a cow if he finds out that I made a bargain with Dr. Kozwell to borrow him for a bit."

Raph got up and ruffled Kara's hair. He walked towards the door and Dr. Bo put his hand on his shoulder.

"Ok dude, I like ya an all but if ya put your hands on me your gonna get it. Got it?"

Bo gave a deep bass chuckle. "Whatever you say."

"It better be what ever I say, 'cause otherwise I'll ninja kick ya in the face!"

Kara laughed at the two while their bickering faded away down the hall. She got up to go sit on her bed when something caught her eye. In the middle of the floor was her empty food tray. She stood for a moment, staring at it. Finally she gave a wicked grin and picked it up as she moved towards the tray flap. 

*****

2:00 pm

Blue Cove, Delaware 

The Centre 

SL 22

Jarod's Cell B

WARNING FIRST PERSON **JAROD**:

I sat in my cell pondering over today's events. Had I done the right thing? The outcomes of my decisions were bleak either way. Cold blooded murders of innocent people if I refuse to work, or the indirect murder of millions of people if I cooperate. Lyle has presented me with an ultimatum and he knows it. He's just waiting for me to come out swinging, but I'm not sure if I can. 

I don't think it's ever been so hard for me to think up an escape plan. Before it was only me and all I had to do was bide my time until I could break and run. Now even if they took me outside and set me on the road and told me to run free I'm not sure if I could. If I escaped then Lyle would tighten security around Kara's cell. He thinks that she is the most important to me. The truth is that she is the most vulnerable. She doesn't have the skills that my other friends posses. My new friends tend to make their decisions carefully. On the other hand, Kara usually relies and acts on her instincts. I know it is going to get her in trouble before the day comes that we leave here.

I am well past the stage or shedding tears for the lady that died for my sake and the children that now have to grow up without a mother. Lyle is just waiting for me to have a mental break down. If I did have one he could practically get me to do anything he wanted. No, I need to stay strong, not just for myself but also for everyone else. 

Maybe if I pick up my singing again Lyle won't notice how much these recent events are troubling me.

"This is the jingle for goldfish

Yes, baked but not fried 

Goldfish the little snack that smiles back until you bite their heads off 

Did you know there made with real cheese?

Even though the look like fishies. 

The snack that smiles back, goldfish 

Now don't adjust your TV 

New gold fish come in colors 

They're still baked with real cheddar 

And they've never looked much better 

Of course their baked and not fried 

You haven't lived till you've tried 

The snack that smiles back, Goldfish"

I had better think up an escape plan soon. I'm running of commercial songs to sing. I could always whistle the Starburst song, but if I did that they'd probably gag me before long. Oh well, there's not much else to do. I might as well try and go for the Most Annoying Person Of-The-Year award while I'm stuck here.

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall,

Ninety-nine bottle of beer,

Take one down,

Pass it around,

Ninety eight bottles of beer on the wall…" 


	8. Maybe Some Day You Will

Disclaimer: Let's go the olden day style! These characters are used with out permission. No profit is being made and no infringement it intended!

A/N sorry I took so long to update but I promise the next chapter will be up A LOT soon… cuz I'm out of school now! Does a cheerleader kick and smiles winningly Yeah and thanks to Onisius (who has been my only constant reviewer and I thank her bunches for that… she keeps me going) and ShadowElfBard for beta-ing this for me! Now on to the story! Please please Leave a review!

10:00 pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

SL 26

Turtle's Cell

The turtles sat on the floor in a circle, shivering despite the thin blankets draped over them. The scientists had lowered the temperature of the room before they left to see how the turtles would fair.

Leo moved slightly out of the circle to get a good view of the door. After he was sure that everyone was gone and would not be coming back, he moved back into the circle and gave a nod. Raph shrugged his shoulders a bit as if to say 'What now?' Donny swung his hands as if wielding a sword, patted his shell, and moved his hands as if using a joystick for a computer game. Raph shrugged his shoulders again and repeated the same joystick motion that Don had used. Don pointed across the room to where all their equipment, including their weapons, were kept. Raph growled a bit and slumped over slightly in defeat. He glared at Don and gave him a 'that's your plan?' look. Don shrugged and motioned that the floor was Raph's.

Raph clenched his hand into a fist and moved it forward as if punching someone. Leo shook his head and slid a hand across his throat. The silent debate went on. One turtle would make an escape plan and another one would shoot it down.

Suddenly there came a rattling sound. All of them went into attack mode. They shook off their thin blankets and forced their cold limbs to quite shaking. Each of them listened intently to the scarping of metal against metal. Without warning, a vent in the corner of the room opened. A thin man with fiery red hair poked his head out of the hole. He looked around for a moment, then dropped to the floor. He stumbled a bit when he hit the ground but he quickly recovered. He scrambled over to the cage and pressed his face up against the bars.

"Brothers," He whispered to himself.

Leo stood from his crouched position, and slowly approached the man seeing him as no immediate threat. His brothers though, kept their defensive postures.

"What?" Leo asked. "Who are you?"

The man's light blue eyes grew big as they focused on Leo.

"Angelo" he breathed as if Leo should have known. "Brothers need help. Friend need help. Red need help!"

Angelo's voice rose an octave with each sentence. By the time he was done speaking it had reached a feverish pitch.

"Shh… calm it down," Raph warned. "Your gonna have the guards comin in here checkin on the ruckus."

Angelo was back to whispering again. His eyes met Raph's briefly then he started at the floor.

"Anger, fear, hate, brothers fear. Brothers hate Bobby. Brothers anger, anger brothers, Bobby hate, brothers fear!"

"Who is this dude?" Mikey asked.

"It's like he's possessed or something," Donny said, watching in amazement as Angelo mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, Angelo's head popped up and his eyes focused again. "Daughter's friend help brothers!"

He ran over to the vent, clambered up, replaced the cover, and was gone just like that.

"That was too weird," Mikey giggled. He rubbed his numb fingers over his cold arms, trying to get some heat to circulate. He grabbed his blanket and draped it over his shoulders.

"Ok, so like when they decided to turn down the heat, they weren't just tryin to save money were they?" Mike asked.

"I donno what they want anymore Mikey. One second it seems like I know what they are shootin for, then they turn around and head another direction!"

Don paced around the cage and hopped up and down for a bit.

"One thing I do know though is that if we don't keep our body temperatures up, there could be some serious consequences."

Raph ground his teeth together to keep them from chattering.

"How are we supposed to keep warm if we can bearly make our muscles work?"

Don continued to hop up and down, not letting his heels touch the floor.

"We keep moving."

Leo let out a shaky breath.

"Don's right. We can't sleep tonight if we want to get out of this unscathed. Mikey, you wanna spar with me?"

"Sure, Leo, just go easy on me. I'm a sluggish turtle, and I bet one hit in the right spot and I'll break into a million little frozen pieces."

Raph sank to the floor and started to do sets of pushups.

Not long after they started their forced workouts, Mikey struck up a song to keep up their spirits.

"We are we are, the youth of the nation

We are we are, the youth of the nation"

Raph picked it up from there, singing the lyrics

"Last day of the rest of my life

I wish I would've known

Cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye"

Leo took his turn,

"I didn't tell her that I loved her

and how much I care

Or thank my pops for all the talks

And all the wisdom he shared"

Don jumped in,

"Unaware, I just did what I always do

Everyday, the same routine

Before I skate off to school"

Mikey stepped up to the plate,

"But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest

Instead of taking a test I took two to the chest"

Raph,

"Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming

Everybody was running

But I couldn't hear nothing"

Leo,

"Except gun blasts, it happened so fast

I don't really know this kid

Even though I sit by him in class"

Don,

"Maybe this kid was reaching out for love

Or maybe for a moment

He forgot who he was"

Mikey,

"Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged

Whatever it was I know it's because"

They all sang together on the chorus, each taking different parts,

"We are, We are, the youth of the nation

We are, We are, the youth of the nation"

The four ploughed on endlessly. Their tired, freezing limbs knotting and straining in protest against the cold conditions. Yet the brothers still sang, song after song they sang to keep their minds off of the situation. After all they were going to be there all night, fighting off hypothermia.

8:00 am The Next Day

Turtle's cell

SL 26

The Centre

Blue Cove, Delaware

Dr. Kozwell walked into the room and immediately pulled her lab coat tighter around her. The room was supposed to be set at forty-five degrees! This was no forty-five degrees. Her head snapped to the left as she thought about how her charges had faired. They were all in the cell doing various activities. Two of them were in the far corner doing something somewhat like wrestling while the other two were crouching then jumping into the air only to repeat the same movement.

"Hey, nice to see ya lady, now would you mind turnin up the thermostat?" asked Raph as he poked his head out of the fight he was in with his brother.

"Yeah. We knew this hotel was cheap, but if we knew they turned the heat off at night we never would have checked into Motel Six instead. At least they leave the light on for ya," commented Mikey in-between a rep of frog hops.

This earned small grins from the rest. Kozwell ran over to the thermostat and promptly turned it up. She then scurried over to her desk to get the security code for the surveillance room. It was going to be interesting to see what went on last night! She grabbed the papers she needed and her clipboard to take notes, and rushed out of the room.

Dr. Kozwell sat in one of the chairs in the surveillance room staring at the monitors in awe. Not only were they smart enough to know they couldn't stop moving, they also were able to sing songs! They must have sung a number of songs during the night. They didn't have the best singing voices but they were supposed to be animals and yet they sang just as any human would! The talking was different. It could have just been the mutants imitating sounds they had heard in their lives as a parrot would. The music though… they added their own little crescendos and tid bits where it wouldn't normally be in the song. She sat there tapping her foot in time with the beat they were creating. Finally board, she fast-forwarded the tapes. They did the same thing all night long. Sometimes they would switch from singing songs to telling jokes, but they never told memories. The one turtle, CT 11 had started with a 'hey guys remember when…' but the leader of the pack CT 10 had stopped him.

"Not a good idea, Mikey."

They went back to telling jokes and singing songs. They must have been exhausted! Kozwell hurried back to see how they were doing now that the temperature had evened out a bit.

By the time she had gotten to the lab, some of her other coworkers had arrived. They were all scurrying around with wide eyes and set jaws. Once again her head rolled to the left. This time all the turtles lay in the cell, flat on their shells, panting heavily. Their whole bodies were shaking uncontrollably. Kozwell stopped one of the assistants as they hurried by.

"What happened here?"

"We don't know. I came in a little after eight. The room was colder than it should have been, but the heat was rising so I left it alone. The specimens seemed to be involved in an exercise of some sort. One of them, CT 13 I think it was, said that that was enough and that the danger had passed. They all sat down and a few minutes later they all started shaking and quivering. Dr. Chutuck said he wanted to leave them alone to see what they did about it."

The young man then shook himself loose and continued on his errand. Kozwell craned her neck to see over the other people's heads. She spotted Chutuck and ran over. She grabbed him by the shirtfront and shook him.

"What do you think you are doing! There could be something seriously wrong with them! Let me tell you, this room was considerably colder than it should have been! It's a miracle they haven't died from over exposure already!"

She didn't wait for a comment. She whirled around and demanded the cage be opened. Running in, she crouched beside the nearest turtle. He lay curled up in as tight of a ball as his shell would allow him. His eyelids were shut tight. She tried to peal one back but he pulled away.

"I only want to help you," she whispered quietly.

"Let her ha-elp Mikey," The turtle from the other corner breathed between his clacking teeth.

Once again she tried to lift his eyelid. This time she succeeded. His pupils were small and beady. Sweat dripped from his face yet he still sat there shivering like he was in the middle of a blizzard with no were to take cover. He only had one of the thin purple blankets rapped around his broad shoulders.

"Turn down the heat again. We need to raise it gradually."

She looked up to see that no one had responded to her order.

"Now! Bring me hot water too! Not too hot, just a little over warm."

Two assistants jumped and rushed to accomplish the requests. She pried the turtle's arm from the ball he had created for himself, and started to rub it vigorously.

"You need to get the fluid in your body moving again."

"C-c-come on guys. I guess our little work out i-i-isn't over yet." Donny said.

With much moaning and some grunts of exertion, they all managed to get up. They stood on shaking limbs as they focused on keeping their balance. Raph shook off his blanket and started doing more pushups. The others soon followed. Their limbs were so cold that the number of exercise they could do was limited. Their movements were slow and sluggish as the temperature dropped once again.

"Remind me n-n-never to go t-t-to Alaska." Raph grumbled. "I now ha-ate the c-c-cold with a p-pa-ssion."

They worked for over twenty minutes before the room was even remotely back to normal temperature. Kozwell came in with bowls full of warm water and they all drank thankfully.

Outside the cage Chutuck was talking with his first hand aide.

"Should we cancel the experiments for today boss?"

"No, let's continue with them. In fact, let's start the first experiment now."

"Now sir?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, now, and don't dally!

"Yes sir!"

The aide went scurrying and came back shortly after with four turtles. They were medium sized red ear sliders. He shoved them into the cage and quickly retreated. Mikey, having finished his bowl of water and managing to keep his shivering under control, strolled over and picked one of the turtles up. He looked it square in the eye and it hissed at him. Mikey promptly sat down and started trying to tickle the turtle. It, in turn, promptly bit his finger. Mikey roared in laughter as the little turtle tried hard to find a spot small enough for him to get its small mouth around.

"I think this one is a bit like you Raph." He joked.

Raph picked up another one of the turtles that had started crawling towards him.

"I donno Mikey. This one looks a lot like you. It's all cross eyed."

By the end of the experiment Mikey was holding 'turtle races' and the scientists were betting on which of the little creatures would win.

"Come on little dude!" Mikey called to his turtle as Raph's started to catch up.

"Come on! You can do it! Go, Go, Go!"

9:00 am

Sim Lab 119

SL 26

The Centre

Blue Cove, Delaware

"What do you mean you don't know how to do a sim!? You have been living with the best pretender in the world for six months! Don't tell me you don't know how to do a sim!"

Dr. Bo was teetering on the brink of insanity. Everything from his body posture to the look of pure madness on his face pronounced his derangement.

"I told you. I can't do it. Well, I'm sure I can, but not as of now. I kinda slip in and out of it and I can't control it. It all plays out in my head as you said it should but I can't explain it. It's like…how do I explain this? "Kara sighed and her shoulders slumped in thought. "Ok, everything has a sense. Every person, every animal, every plant or toy. Each object has its own sense that it creates, but each sense is different for each person. When I sim I can feel those senses but they aren't things to be explained. No matter how hard I try I could never explain them. Human words just can't describe it."

Bo eyed Kara for a full minute.

"Get Jarod down here. I don't care what it takes, but get him down here. Tell Lyle that a problem has arisen concerning project Adapt."

Minutes later Lyle came storming into the sim lab.

"You are NOT getting my pretender!"

"Mr. Lyle, Project Adapt seems to be having a problem simming that was never confronted. Jarod is the most capable teacher we have in the field of pretending."

"You aren't getting him! He is my project and he is getting nowhere near another pretender! It would be too easy for him to escape or relay information! He's done it before and it is NOT going to happen again!"

"Mr. Lyle, with all due respect sir, the Triumvirate would not be happy with you if they found out you refused to train another potential pretender."

Lyle turned to the sweeper that had been shadowing him since he left Jarod's cell.

"Go get Jarod, put him in chains and bring him down here."

Jarod came shuffling in shortly after, with five sweepers surrounding him on all sides. His facial expression might as well have been set in stone because whenever he came into the room it never changed. He wasn't smiling but he wasn't frowning either. His eyes gave away nothing as to what he was thinking. He stared straight forward, not acknowledging anyone in the room, not even Kara.

Lyle's composure had also changed. He had switched from a raging lunatic to a man with a calm exterior but a dangerous interior, just waiting to be released. He walked up and stood right in front of Jarod, he addressed the sweepers that weren't guarding him without breaking the stare down between the slave and the master.

"Set them ten feet apart, and blindfold him. I don't want any hidden conversations going on here. He has deceived us once that way and it is not happening again."

A sweeper quickly covered Jarod's head in a black cloth hood, then stepped back once more.

"Now Jarod, from what I have heard, you haven't trained your little pretender animal yet. She needs to know how to relay information from her sims. That is going to be your job because you should have done it before."

"You mean that's my job because I am the only one that can do it." Jarod ground out, his head held high against his unseen enemy.

Lyle slapped him across the face. Jarod rolled his head to the side when he felt the hand hit, but it wasn't enough avoid the inevitable bruising that would appear later.

"Don't back talk. So are you going to do your job?"

"No." His answer was blunt and to the point and it earned him another slap.

"Then again, I could always order Willie to stop another car on that desolate road in the middle of nowhere and…"

"Fine," Jarod cut in. "I'll see what I can do."

9:10am

Parker's House

Blue Cove, Delaware

"What?!"

Parker was just fixing Debbie breakfast when the phone rang.

"Miss Parker, I… found a way that you can talk to Jarod…"

"Sam, you called me to tell me something, now talk!"

"Well, you are gonna have to get here pretty fast. He isn't on SL22 anymore. I was watching the security cameras. They took Jarod to SL 26. I am not sure how long he is gonna be there though."

"Gee, great, Sam, thanks," Parker snapped, throwing her free hand up and rolling her eyes, gestures completely unseen by the sweeper. "And how do you suppose that I am going to get in there? Lyle probably has the place fenced off to everybody but himself and some of his minions. I take one step on that floor and they are going to shoot me dead! Was that your plan, Sam? To get me killed just so I could ask Monkey Boy a few questions?"

"Technically, Miss Parker, you can use the cover of asking him questions for your report. You still need to finish that follow up report seeing as capturing Jarod was your job and Lyle can't deny you that…."

Silence was all Sam heard.

"Miss Parker. Miss Parker?"

The dial tone was all he received.

Ten minutes later Parker was at The Centre. She flew through the hallways and corridors, all the way down to SL 26. Every door she came to she flicked a quick glance in the observation window to see if her target was within. Finally, she found her quarry and barged into the sim lab, interrupting the lesson that was taking place.

"Hey, Lyle! Mind if I barrow your pretender a minute?" Parker called in a false, upbeat voice.

Two sweepers took a step and blocked her path. She stopped and starred them both down.

"What's a matter boys? Can't I talk to my own brother?" The first part was sweet but her tone quickly changed to of one to anger. She placed a hand on each of their chests' and pushed them aside like swinging doors.

"Daddy's order's, Lyle," she mocked him. "I need to ask Frankenface a few questions to finish the apprehension report, but of course if you object you can go complain to daddy. I'm sure he would appreciate your complete disregard to his orders."

9:30 am

The hallway out side the turtles cell

SL 26

The Centre

Blue Cove, Delaware

Debbie poked her head around the corner as two scientists came out of the room at the end of the hall.

"I think they'll be just fine, Ben. For our sake we better hope they are all right. Mr. Parker would have our heads if we messed up another big project like this."

"Oh come on. You know that Mr. Parker doesn't get involved in anything going on on SL26. Even if the turtles died by some freak accident Dr. Chutuck would have to put in a plea to have us killed and you know how Mr. Parker deals with those. Besides, what could happen if we leave them alone for a few mintues?"

The science turned the opposite corner and continued their way down the hall.

Turtles?! Debbie loved turtles! Maybe they would be like that one turtle, George, that she saw at the zoo with Ms. Parker! At that thought she scrambled over to the door that was just about to click shut, and slipped into the room.

She snuck into the room and immediately caught sight of the Tupperware container to the far right of the room. She rushed over and looked inside. Four little turtles were crawling around in the bottom of the container.

"They're so cute!" She said aloud.

"That's what I said," a voice from behind her called out.

She spun around, painfully aware of the trouble she would be in if anybody saw her in here. Behind her in a cell that covered the whole far wall were four big turtles!

"You're even bigger than George!" She breathed.

One of the ones with a purple mask over his eyes chuckled.

"And we're probably a bit smarter than George too!"

Debbie walked over and seated herself right in front of the bars.

"You have such big shells!" She exclaimed.

"All the better to rough house with my dear," joked Mikey.

Leo gave him a slight nudge and pushed his way towards the front of the bars.

"Hey, Honey. What's your name?"

"Debbie."

"Debbie, that's a pretty name. Well my name is Leo and these are my brothers, Raph, Don, and Mike. We have a problem. You see, we seem to be stuck here. We need your help. Do you think that you could go over there and get those weapons on that table?"

Debbie fidgeted; desperately wanting to help her knew friends.

"I'm not supposed to touch knives."

"Well Debbie, I will grant you special permission just this once if you are very careful," Leo cooed.

"The scientists hurt you didn't they?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"Yes they did, some. They separated us from our dad, and we need to find him. Can you please go get our weapons for us, Debbie, so we can go find him?"

Debbie nodded and all the turtles breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up the weapons that were originally in the turtles belts and started to carry them over one by one.

"Careful with that pouch of pointy stars, Debbie," cautioned Donny.

She dropped Raph's sias but was quickly reassured that it was fine and she was doing well. After she gave Raph his weapons and Donny got his bag of inventions they quickly went over to the door and tried to disengage the lock. "Should I just stab it Don?"

"I donno Raph. It has a cornea scanner attached. If you smash it, it might set off an alarm."

"Well how about I smash it and we let the alarm get set off then we go over to da door and wait for them ta check on us? The second they come in we send 'im all off to la la land."

"What do you thin, Leo?" asked Don.

Leo inspected his katanas. Once satisfied that they had not been damaged, he sheathed them.

"Sounds like our only choice. Might as well. Go to it, Raph."

Raph smashed the cornea scanner and quickly picked the lock.

"Dang it! We gotta get these things out of our arms or we are done for!" Raph gestured towards the shock electrodes implanted in their arms.

"Here," he grabbed Mikey's arm and quickly made a slit with his sai just below the lump where the electrode was. Digging it out of his flesh with the other sai and smashing it once it was out.

"Geez Raph! Give a guy a warning before ya go mutilating his arm," exclaimed Mikey as he tried to get the bleeding to stop.

"No time," said Leo as he did the same with his Katana while Raph helped Don with his.

They got the last of the electrodes out with no time to spare. Sweepers came storming through the door.

"Mikey! Grab Debbie! We're out of here!"

Mikey tucked Debbie under one arm, a nunchuck whirling in his other.

"Hang on! We're going for a ride, dudette!"

9:40 am

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

SL 26

Sim lab 119

"I told you, Parker. Kara and I were pretending to be gang members, one of Lyle's buddies must have saw us and you know the rest."

"I don't buy it Jarod. It is too simple and you know it. What else went on in New York?"

Lyle was half happy that Jarod didn't tell Parker about the mutants found in New York during the pursuit for Jarod and Kara. Yet he still hated his sister therefor he sat in his chair with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at her for all he was worth.

"See, Parker," Lyle mocked. "Just like I said. Now please remove yourself from the immediate area. I have work to do and you are a nuisance." He waved his hands about dramatically towards the door.

Miss Parker was about to retaliate when a series of thumps followed by a few groans sounded from outside of the lab. All humor was gone as Lyle began to rant.

" Ha! I knew it all along! You just wanted to get to Jarod! There was no report! I bet you have Sydney and Broots waiting out there. See, that is where you messed up, Missy Parker. My sweepers have direct orders to dispose of any one that comes on this level unauthorized. You may be able to outsmart dear Daddy but you will never out smart ME! Boys! Take the pretenders back to their cells. My sister and I need to have one last heart to heart before she leaves, for good!"

Parker's eyes grew wife for a moment. She hadn't thought this through. She had the chance to talk to Jarod and she jumped at it head first. Sam had set her up! Now all she had was her stiletto heals and a 9mm. How was she going to get out of this one?

The sweepers grabbed the still blindfolded Jarod and the very bewildered Kara to take them off to their cells, and Parker and Lyle raced to retrieve their firearms out of their holsters.

9:40 am

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

SL 26

Outside sim lab 119

"Be ready guys. They'll be out any minute to see what the noise is. Raph, you slip in and get Jarod and Kara. Donny, Mikey, and I will hold them off."

The doors slammed open with five sweepers leading a blindfolded Jarod. Kara was behind them, being dragged along by two sweepers. She growled and kicked as they moved out the door.

"Woah! Talk about being hand delivered!" Yelled Mikey as he kicked the first guy he came in contact with in the face.

Jarod's head snapped up, trying to find his unseen friends. Kara ceased her struggling for a split second, only to start again with ten fold the power. Her laughter ricocheted off the walls and bounced down the desolate hallway.

Jarod shook himself free from the suffocating hood over his head as Raph picked the locks to his chains.

"Don't laugh so soon, Kara. We still need to find Splinter and get up to ground level without being shot down."

"Splinter's dead." The two words that Leo spoke as monotone a possible weighed heavily on the group. A single tear glistened brightly as it rolled down his cheek. Mikey came towards his brother, confusion painted across his features.

"What? Leo, how?"

"I was mediating the other night. He came to me and said goodbye. I tried to stop him from giving up but he had already died. He was unreachable by any means. His soul had left this world."

They all stood staring at Leo, not believing what he just heard. Raph clenched his sias and shook furiously, denying the awful truth.

"No. No! He's not dead! He can't be!"

Donny grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look in his eyes.

"Leo's right. I can't feel is vibes anymore, and I don't think you can either Raph."

Raph squeezed his eyes shut tight and clung to his brother in a fierce hug. The whole time Jarod, Kara, and Mikey just stood there, to stricken to speak. Mikey came out of his stupor first.

"Guys, we need to keep moving. Once they get wind that we are gone this place is gonna turn into a battle field."

Leo quickly wiped his tears away and straightened up.

"Mikey's right. We got to go. We will have time to mourn Sensei's death later, but if we don't go now then we will no doubt meet the same fate as him."

Leo had scarcely finished his speech before Lyle came thundering out of the sim lab.

"What the…"

He raised his gun, ready to shoot the beasts.

"You!" Raph growled.

None could stop him. The deed was done in a matter of seconds. It took all of his brothers to haul him off of the bloody mess that was once Jarod's most feared enemy.

"Raph, we need to go!"

Kara jumped in front of the insane turtle.

"Raph! You once told me to get free of here that we would all need to have clear heads and we would need to have our hearts in the right place. Mine is in the right place, now is yours? Splinter is already free. Now we have to get free. You killed Lyle, and there isn't much more to do here. Come on, let's go."

Raph turned towards Kara, the pain evident in his eyes. He took a few ragged breaths and puffed out his chest a bit. Clenching his teeth tight he turned towards what he hoped was the way out.

"Ok, let's go."

10:00 am

Blue Cove, Delaware

Road outside the Centre gates

Argyle took a look at the large stone sign planted right in the middle of a flowerbed. Finally! He had made it! He was tired and dirty, his shoes were worn paper thin from walking after his car was stolen in Chicago, he was half starved, and Dog was getting antsy after six months of searching! Finally though he had reached his destination. It had taken him over five months to find Jarod after he had sent him home when a big case came up. He had been trying to find him ever since. He had gotten a tip from an outside source that Jarod was caught in that Centre place over in Blue Cove, so Argyle marched right over. Now he was going to give him a piece of his mind!

Looking at the fence it was obviously meant to keep people out. There was a sign on the gate that read 'Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.' Nothin like the good and honest truth, huh?

"Ok, Dog, my manly dog! Now you go over there and crawl under that there fence real stealth like, ok?" Argyle coaxed his dog. "Then ya go over and hit that button that says 'OPEN'. It's that big green button right there. See? Hey, Dog. No, Dog, not over there! You crawl under this fence. Here, see?"

Argyle got flat on his stomach and tired to scoot his was under the fence. His coat tails got caught in the iron spikes when he was only half way under.

"Hey, Dog. Can ya help a brother out? Oh come on! Please! Hey I'll buy you all the treats you can eat for a year! Huh? Ya know a scam when ya smell one, huh? Well how about for old times sake?"

Dog promptly crawled under the fence and pressed the green button. An alarm went off, sounding over speakers placed everywhere.

"Awhuh!!"

Argyle tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps and let his head fall to the ground when he saw the bright shiny penny loafers standing before him.

"Uh… hi guys! I'm uh here to… ask if you guys support Tupperware! Buy a stack of 'em today!"


	9. A Time of Rage and Healing

Disclaimer: I own enough of their merchandise to own it! Oh! If those dumb producers of TP cared they would have at _least_ put the episodes on DVD for us faithful followers! (Looks around at the glaring producers) …Oops? No! No! I didn't mean it!

A/N: Yes, well you all know that I got back from my third vacation last week. What you didn't know is the new stuff I thought up! I saw this story going in a completely different direction until I went on my trip then it all became clear!

10:30 am

The Center Lobby

The Center

Blue Cove, Delaware

"Look, my amigos, I'm just your average friendly door-to-door salesman trying to make an honest living!" Argyle begged and pleaded, currently being dragged into the lobby.

"Come on, guys! Just let me go! I have a family to feed!"

Dog whined. Suddenly, the lobby had become the very model of a battlefield. People were running in all directions, screaming about monsters escaped from SL 26, rampaging all over the building. Argyle stopped his shameless pleading for a moment to join in the screaming.

"Oh my gosh! Monsters?! You guys gotta save me! I'm too young to die! Uh ho ho!! Oh please protect me!

Four giant turtles rounded the corner and Argyle jumped into his captor's arms with a shrill scream that nearly burst the eardrums of everyone within hearing distance.

The four mutants and two humans ran by closer than Argyle would have liked. The turtles all were bearing weapons, and one human had a gun and the other was brandishing a metal bar. One of the humans poked his head out of the group to take a closer look at the grown man in the sweeper's arms.

"Argyle? !"

"J-man?! Oh, you guys gotta save him from the monsters too! He's my buddy!"

The sweepers started to advance, but Jarod pulled his gun.

"Oh no they don't, I am just fine where I am. In fact, Argyle, you are coming with us. Gentlemen, please put Argyle down, or I'll let Raph here lose on you guys."

Raph smiled. "And I would be oh-so happy to oblige!"

The sweepers took one look at the now-talking mutant and fainted in swoon.

"And that's how the dominos fall! Come on, dude. If Jarod wants ya to come, then you come." Mikey grabbed Argyle and hauled him to his feet.

"Whew! But as soon as we are out of here, I suggest a shower!"

The group continued their headlong charge to the nearest exit. Alarms sounded everywhere but not many dared to oppose the turtle freaks and their friends. Security doors slowly slid shut. The bunch was saved many a time by the accurate throw of a weapon to jam the doors. Making it to the parking garage was also no easy feat, but made it they did. Jarod promptly hot-wired a van and they all piled in without a word. Jarod drove and Kara sat in the front seat. Everyone else mounded in the back, trying to be as discrete as possible.

"What are you doing with these people, J-man? Are they on drugs? I told ya, 'drugs mess you up', man, but did you listen to me? No, you had to go and have it your own way…" Argyle chattered from his place, smushed between Don and Leo. Raph sat in the back, holding onto the squirming Dog for all he was worth.

"Here, take your dog. I don't think he likes me too much."

"Oh, thanks. Those drugs, J-man. They mess up your brain. They do stuff to ya…"

"Argyle," Jarod growled as he took another glance at his rearview mirror, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue you, man! After you sent me home like six months ago I had nothing to do. My old man died. He's with momma and the big guy in Heaven now. Anyways… "

Jarod turned onto the highway. He sighed and put a hand to his head.

"Where can I drop you off at?"

"Hey, no, J-man! I'm stayin with you this time! We're friends and friends don't split up! Remember what happened last time I left? You went and got yourself thrown in that Centre place. No, my friend. This time I am staying right here."

"Uh! Great, I forgot there was a toll road down this way, and we don't have any money on us." If Jarod could have slammed his head on the wheel right then he would have.

"But this is our best chance of getting away unnoticed. If we went any other way we would have to double back close to The Centre. They would have sweepers by the hundreds out looking for us now."

"I know, Kara, I know. Argyle, do you have any money one you?"

"Up, sorry, J-dog. I got robbed in San Fran… or was it Chicago? No, nope, I got my car stolen in Chicago. So what happened in San Fran?"

"A simple yes or no would have sufficed."

"Well, then no. But I know how to get some. Just stop up at one of those coin machine thingies."

"Argyle, don't do anything stupid. We don't need attention drawn to us."

"Oh, don't worry. I did this before I got my car stolen in Salt Lake … or was it Palm Springs?"

Argyle jumped out of the car as it slowed to a stop next to a machine-operated tollbooth. The old man behind the change window gave him a weird look, but failed to stop him in his acts. Argyle crawled over to the machine and stuck his hand down into the coin slot. Back in the car Jarod finally slammed his head down on the steering wheel.

"I am cursed," he muttered.

The old man in the change window chose that exact time to steal a quick glance at the car behind him. He did a double take and his eyes widened. He immediately tried to climb out his change window, as there was no other way out of the booth.

"Hey! Hey! Stop right there! I'm a Vietnam Vet and you don't want to mess with me, sonny!"

Argyle jumped up in fright and tried to make a run for the car but the hand stuck in the machine held him back.

"Oh! Uh oh! I swear pop's, I didn't do anything!" He got down on his knees and pleaded. "Oh, I am a poor, down on his luck, beggar! Spare my poor soul fifty cents so that I may see my dying Grandmother on her death bed!"

Jarod jumped out of the van and yanked Argyle's arm out of the machine. The once poor beggar man held up to quarters.

"Oh, look! Fifty cents!"

He deposited it back into the machine and jumped in the van. Jarod hit the gas just as the toll bar rose upwards. The old man was left in the dust, yelling that he would get his old platoon after them.

Jarod held up his index finger, eyes wide and head shaking.

"Never! Never again, Argyle! You aren't getting out of this van until I find some place to dump you!"

"Oh, come on! I'm an asset to the team! You need me and my sly skills!"

"The only thing we need, Argyle, is for you to get out of our hair before you get us killed! I'm dropping you off in Dover and that is final! And you're not going to follow me this time!"

"But-"

"No!"

"But-"

"Argyle, _no_!"

Jarod pulled off the exit for Dover and accelerated slightly, wanting to be rid of Argyle. Forty minutes later they pulled into Dover in record time. Jarod opened the side door and ushered Argyle out.

"Now go."

"But, J-man, you don't really want to do this. You're just mad. Give it some time!"

Jarod sighed. His head sank a bit, showing his obvious exhaustion.

"Argyle, You are one of my few friends that I have had for more than a month, and for that reason I need you to leave. Here," Jarod pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Here's a pin number for a Centre account. Take as much money as you want. It's untraceable and has been for awhile. I can't let you come with us, Argyle, because I care about you!"

"Aww man!" Argyles face pulled itself into a frown and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. "That was so sweet! I'm gonna miss you, buddy!" And with that he all but fell into Jarod, giving him a big bear hug. Jarod resisted at first but finally settled and gave him a few pats on the back in return. He pried himself loose and climbed back up into the van. Argyle stood on the sidewalk as the van pulled away, tears in his eyes and a crumpled piece of paper with a pin number on it in his hand. He lifted one hand and gave a small, feeble wave as he picked up Dog and walked down the sidewalk towards the nearest bank.

Raph let out a sigh.

"Okay, who was he?"

Jarod too let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"Someone I met awhile back. He… let's just say the man will do anything for money, even selling me to The Centre."

Kara bolted up right, her eyes wide.

"He tried to sell you to The Centre and you're friends with him?!"

"Acquaintances really. It a long story and I really don't want to get into it right now."

"So where are we gonna go now?" Mikey spoke up from the back seat.

"The sewers are out of the question with two organizations looking for us. It was hard enough staying away from _one_," Leo reasoned.

"So where do we go?"

Kara brightened up. "Ohio!"

"Ohio?"

"Yeah, Jarod. Remember you bought that ranch house up in Ohio after you did that pretend as a large animal vet?" Let's go up there. It's secluded enough."

Mikey perked up at the sound of 'farm', hope in his voice.

"A farm would be a good idea. We could lay low for awhile, stay out of the way. It'd be good."

"All in favor for the farm?" Jarod asked as he turned onto the road leading to the highway.

A course of 'I's' greeted his proposal.

"Alright! Ohio it is then!"

They hadn't been driving for more than a half an hour before they came to an exit under construction.

"Oh great!" Raph sighed as he shrank back into his seat. "Let's hope none of them construction people are nosey."

Jarod broke into a cold sweat. He gripped the wheel until his knuckles turned white.

"Since when did construction workers come to work in black town cars?"

"Jarod!" Kara started to panic. "We gotta get out of here!"

"I'm trying. If I go to either side then we are going to roll down this embankment and crash. I can't go forward and I can't turn around to go back from where we came from…we're stuck and they know it!"

Suddenly Raph let out a cry of rage and pounced for the doors.

"Whoa! Raph! Dude! Do you want to be seen? What the heck are you doing?!"

"Let go, Mikey! That freak! That Chutuck freak said he would finish us off just like he did '_the rat_'. He killed Master Splinter! He's gonna die!" Leo came forward to help hold Raph back.

"Jarod… give us ten minutes with that pack out there and you can get through. The question is, can you shake them after we're on the road again?"

"Um… yeah… It'll be hard but I think I can do it. It's our only choice, right?"

"Good. Ok, Raph, just keep you're cool. Grab Chutuck. We'll take him with us. Got it?"

Raph shook his arms loose and grabbed his Sais out of his belt, licking one as he stared at the gleaming metal.

"I'll try but I can't promise anything."

"Good enough. All right, guys. Watch out for the tranquilizer guns that they will no doubt have. If one of us gets hit it is all over."

The four turtles burst out of the van as one, yelling and hollering. The sweepers were taken by complete surprise.

"Fire!" screamed Dr. Chutuck. The sweepers shot darts right and left but none of them found their marks. Donny made quick work of the guns, knocking them out of their hands with his Bo. Raph could care less about not harming them in his moment of insane anger and screamed Splinter's name the whole time he took out the men in black suits. In no time flat Chutuck was the only man left conscious. Raph grabbed him by the collar and put a Sai to his throat.

"My brother requests that I keep you alive- for now. But if you so much as utter a squeak I might loose my control and end up killing you here! You are _sooo_ lucky we're in a hurry. Otherwise I would make you die slowly and painfully on the spot for murdering our Sensei," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Chutuck resembled a deer in the headlights when Raph grabbed him. He shook all over and tried to say something but his lips wouldn't respond. Raph let out another growl and shoved him none to gently into the awaiting van. His brothers followed. The car ride to Ohio was dead silent. All four turtles glared daggers at Chutuck. Even Mikey's face was as grim as could be. Kara and Jarod sat in the front, not even turning around to see the stressed situation in the back.

"I… I… It…"

Leo pounced on Chutuck.

"Shut up," he roared. "You're judgement will come when we arrive, and let me tell you I don't think you are going to survive you're punishment for killing our Master."

"It…"

"Shut it! You think we're animals. You'll get to see just how ferocious we can be soon. Raph give me your bandanna. I don't want to listen to his trivial excuses anymore."

Raph untied his headband and handed it over to Leo. Leo also took off his own. He blindfolded and gagged Chutuck. The man sat there in the back corner of the van where we was thrown, in a fetal position shivering and shaking, no longer able to cry out or try to justify his actions. Minutes passed by like hours. It was silently agreed not to take any pit stops. Eleven hours later they pulled into the driveway of Jarod's ranch house. Raph and Leo both hulled Chutuck out of the have. Between them they lifted him off the ground and towards the back of the property.

"Now _Doctor _we are going to tie you up in the back yard like the dirty mongrel you are. The house is too good for you." Raph couldn't hide the repugnance from his voice as he held tight to the squirming villain.

6:00 am (the next morning)

The porch

Jarod's Ranch house

Rural Ohio

WARNING: FIRST PERSON KARA:

I sat on the wall of the porch and marveled at the rain. Isn't it a lovely thing? It's so destructive in large amounts, killing humans and animals alike, damaging farmer's crops, and spoiling children's outdoor plans. Yet it is also life giving and beautiful in moderation. Without it everything on this Earth would perish. It's a necessary evil.

So I sat here and gazed at this liquid that holds such a special purpose for us all. To my left there was a mountain covered in trees. Maples and Oaks that were once visible hours before are now meshed into a blur of dark greens and grays. To my right the gutters overflowed from the substantial downpour they are forced to bear. The dirt road leading to the house beyond that was now a muddy creek. I could see the pond glistening and dancing across the road but bushes and brambles blocked most of my view. I felt like jumping off my perch to go dance about in this storm, but then I would ruin this perfect view and this peaceful moment. The thunder was distant and the lightening flashes, few and far between. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, but a blood-curdling cry ripping through the woods ruins the tranquility of it all. I opened my eyes to see Leo and Raph untying the doctor from the tree where they had left him for the night. As they dragged him off into the woods I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Sure he was probably as evil as Lyle, but his fate would be a horrifying one. Even from here I could tell that Raph and Leo were still enraged and distressed beyond words. They would show the doctor no mercy for killing their teacher.

I turned my head from the morbid scene as I heard the screen door open. Mikey came over and sat on the opposite side of the stonewall with me.

"Why didn't you and Donny go with them?" I jerked my head towards the receding forms of the two turtles and their foe. Mikey shrugged and scrubbed a bit at his eyes. They looked red and sore. No doubt he had been mourning Splinter's death.

"I donno," he said. "I think that, even if I wanted to, I couldn't murder that dude in cold blood. Leo and Raph, they want revenge. I don't want revenge. I don't even wish for the dude to die. Master Splinter's time was coming and I think he knew it. One day I'll see him again, but when I do I don't want him to be angry with me for letting my own anger cloud my judgement. Raph and Leo on the other hand, think differently. They think they're bringing honor to Sensei by killing his murderer" He shrugged once more. "It's just a matter of opinion and what you think is honorable. So I let them go on their way and Donny and I don't try and change their stars."

I smiled a bit for Mike's sake. I sensed a kinship with this turtle friend of mine.

"Hmm. Not wanting revenge. I remember sitting on a porch the night Jarod told me my mother was killed and telling him I didn't want revenge on Lyle. I also remember I told him that I knew Lyle wouldn't meet a normal human's fate. I think Lyle got that abnormal fate, but you know, now that Lyle's dead, it doesn't make me feel any satisfaction. I feel less afraid now that he isn't on the pursuit team but it didn't ease the pain of loosing my mother any."

"I know." His voice was almost a whisper and his anguish was apparent. A tear slipped down his face. "I miss him."

I got up from where I sat, walking over to Mikey, intending to give him a hug. Once I got to his side I realized there was nowhere to sit. So I slipped onto his lap and held him tight. My heart went out to the youngest of the turtles as he wept openly into my shoulder. I hated to see anyone in any type of pain, but Mikey's pain hit home. I wanted him to be happy more than anything. We sat there for what seemed like eternity. His tears soon dried up but he still held me and I still held him. He sat on the wall and I sat on his lap. My head was on his shoulder and his on mine.

"Splinter would want you to be happy, Mike. For the short time I've known him I am positive that he would want you to get on with you're life and let the past be the past."

I broke the hug that had lasted for so long and stared him straight in the eye.

"A wise man once said 'A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.'"

I thought I saw a glimmer of a smile on his face.

"Sensei used to say that."

"He sounds like a wise rat. What else did he say?"

This time Mikey really did laugh. It was a small laugh but it was still a sign of merriment.

"Well my bros and me used to sneak out into the sewer when we were little he used to…"

The two of us talked for hours. Mikey shared memories about when they were younger and I mostly listened. Every once in awhile I would tell him one of my own memories but for the most part I just let him talk. This was a time of healing for him, and it was a chance to talk to a real friend for me. I think that maybe, just maybe, Mikey is more than a friend. It's been awhile since I had any friends for a period of time that knew me for me and not who I was pretending to be, but Mikey was different. He made me feel something I felt when my mom was alive, something I haven't felt since she died. Could it be possible that I love Mike, and would he love me back? I never got the chance to ask him. Suddenly my ears perked up. I turned to look towards the woods and cocked to the side a bit to hear better.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah." Mikey made a move to get up and I slipped off his lap. He had an arm around my shoulder though and I can tell you I didn't mind one bit. "We should go inside. Leo and Raph are back."

"Why?"

"They are going to stay out here for awhile."

"But why would they do that when they could be inside?" I asked. It didn't make sense.

"They need to cleanse their souls after what they just did. They don't want to be around any innocents right after they killed someone. Whenever we came home from a battle where there happened to be a death, accidental or not, we wouldn't talk to anyone until the dawn of the next day. All life is precious and to show respect for the lives that were lost we fast and meditate until a new day has begun. A sunrise represents new life, so when the sun rises we go back to our normal schedules because life goes on. You watch. Tomorrow morning they will come in for breakfast and be the same as always."

Mikey led me inside just as I saw Leo and Raph clear the woods. Their faces were still stone cold but I could sense some sorrow breaking through. Dr. Chutuck may have been a monster but I still imagine that they would respect one of the many lessons their Sensei had taught them.

As Mikey and I walked into the living room we heard a loud crash from the kitchen. I rushed in with Mikey right on my heels. Pushing open the swinging door, I was greeted be a rather funny sight. A pan of sausages lay on the floor where they were obviously knocked from the stove, and Donny was standing over the stove with a pancake turner in hand, frantically beating out a smoldering dishcloth. Mikey busted out laughing.

"Way to go, bro!"

I skipped over to Donny in my usual overzealous way and grabbed the pancake turner from him. Using it to scoop up the dishtowel, I walked it over to the sink and turned on the water. It set up a cloud of smoke as what was left of a fire was snuffed out. Turning to Donny, I cocked an eyebrow. Don tried to sputter out an explanation.

"I… It just. Fawoom!"

He moved his hands as if to show something being engulfed by a ball of flame.

"You don't normally cook do you?"

Mikey interjected before Donny could say a word in his own defense.

"Are you kidding? Good old Donny here can't even boil water!"

He slung an arm around his brother and leaned against him.

"I guess Don just wasn't born to cook like me!"

"Come on, Donny. I'm sure we can scrap up something together for breakfast."

As Mikey, Donny, and I searched around the kitchen for something to eat Jarod wondered in, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he shuffled into the room.

"Was' all the noise bout?" he mumbled.

"Oh nothing." Mikey smiled. "Donny just caught the counter on fire. You should have seen him!" He did a dramatic reenactment of Donny putting out his fire with the pancake turner. Jarod smiled wearily and made a beeline for the coffeepot.

"By all rights, I should have had another hour to sleep. Never get that around here though with five teens running around."

He shuffled back out of the kitchen, cradling his coffee mug.

"Oh come on, Jarod! You know you're just as bad as us once you've had your caffeine fix!" I yelled after him. Seriously! He really is as bad as me at times with the stuff he does.

Breakfast was too marvelous to put into words. Mikey's a better cook than me! 'Course we both had to hover over Donny like hawks to make sure he didn't burn anything. He protested many times saying he was a ninja and he thought he could handle a few pancakes. In the end we ended up crumbling what was left of Donny's "pancakes" and transformed them into a type of sweet bread pudding with a type blackberry and honey sauce on it. After breakfast Jarod went about to do his own thing while "us kids" cleaned up the dishes.

"Hey, do you guys want to go for a walk in the woods after this?" I asked.

Donny and Mikey both perked up, huge grins painted on their faces.

"Seriously?! This place is that desolate?! We can do that?!"

"Yeah. I mean we have to be careful cuz every once in awhile you'll come across someone, but those woods are pretty quite as far as the human population goes.

"Then let's do it, dude!"

Mikey was clearly excited and Donny wasn't far behind on the happiness scale.

"Ok let me just tell Jarod we're goin' out. JAROD!" I screamed.

"What?!" Jarod screamed back. He came running out of the bathroom, dripping wet with a towel around his waist. "What?! What's wrong?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax, Jarod." I put my hands in the air, showing him it wasn't what he thought. "Everything is fine. I just wanted to tell you that we were going out on a walk."

"Oh… um… ok. Have fun I guess."

He shuffled back into the bathroom and closed the door again.

"It takes awhile for the coffee to kick in," I joked.

Going out the back door so as not to disturb Raph and Leo in their meditating, we headed straight for the woods.

We hadn't been walking long when I heard the distant crack of a broken twig. We were all in crouches in a matter of milliseconds, and when another snap sounded we all dove for hiding places.

"It's either me, or the foxes are getting bigger out here!" came a deep bass voice.

Another little A/N: That little scene with Chutuck getting dragged off into the woods by Leo and Raph was intended for Lyle but when I got back from my trip I realized I already killed the guy! Oh and just so you all know Chutuck in Hungarian (that's not the way they spell it but…) means dishcloth. Oh and Onisius … did you like that little Jarod out of the shower scene I did there for you? Yes! That was just for you! And to answer your question about Debbie's age. The show had her at the beginning being super young like four or five and four years later she is like a teen! I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys I made her younger in my head. It just slipped my mind. Well Please R&R! I worked hard on this one and had it typed in three days!


	10. The End

Disclaimer: I don't own them because they don't want to be owned. How about that?

A/N: Well, this is it, guys. It's been fun! This is my last chapter to this story. Now don't you all worry if you don't see any more fics from me for like five months, because I am going to write one for the TMNT before I come back and write another story for this one. I have the next story all planned out and it is going to be a Jarod centric fic, no Kara and no turtles. In fact, I think that Kara wasn't that big of a hit so if I ever do write a fic with her in it I don't plan on posting it. If you want to see it (if and when I write it) just send me an e-mail or tell me so in your review and I'll send it to you. A special thanks to ShadowElfBard, my beta reader, and to my one and only reviewer! You know who you are!!

"Ben?!" I jumped out from behind the bush and pounced on the stranger, enwrapping him in a great big hug.

"Whoa! Kara?! Hey, girl! Where'd ya go? One day you just like up and left!"

I pulled away. "Well Ja- _Daddy_, got a transfer. I guess we did leave kinda quick."

"Well." Ben picked himself up off the ground and leaned against a tree. "So… what's new?" I winced slightly and chanced a glance upwards. The tree Ben was leaning on was the tree Mikey was hiding in. He was perched precariously on a puny branch that looked like it was barely holding his weight, but he couldn't move for fear of alerting Ben.

"Oh, not too much," I replied. "I've been keeping myself busy with school and what not. I'm here on spring break."

"Spring break? It's only April."

"Yeah, well..." A loud 'Achoo!' was heard from the foliage above as a green cannon ball fell right on top of Ben. Ben once again found himself on the ground, this time face to face with none other than Mike. Mikey tried to grin a bit, but Ben's eyes were as wide as saucers and a sharp bark of surprise escaped his throat.

"Busted," I groaned.

"Some ninja you are," Don said, swinging down from the tree he had shimmied up.

Ben's jaw worked up and down but no words spilled forth.

I could hear Donny speaking from behind me. "Come off him, Mikey. You already scared him to death with you're face. Why not save him some dignity and keep from flattening the dude like a pancake?"

Mikey rolled off of Ben but not before leaning down to give him a kiss. Don promptly yanked his Bo staff out of its holder and whacked his brother one on the head.

"Hey, the dude was asking for it with his mouth moving like that."

I laughed as I helped Ben up. Mikey's joke seemed to snap his brain out of its stupor.

"Kara! What is this?! What are these things?! Where are they from?"

My face dropped at Ben calling them 'things'. Technically I was just like them. The only dissimilarity being that my difference had more to do with my instincts rather than my physical appearance. Mikey seemed unfazed, however, and as always knew just what to say to break the ice. He nodded as if confirming something.

"Mutants," he said. "From Xavier School for the Gifted."

"Stop fooling around, Mikey." Donny extended his hand to a very bewildered Ben. "My name is Donatello. This dimwit here is my brother Michelangelo."

"Uh, Hi… I guess."

"Look, Ben," I said, "it's a long story. Why don't we go back to my place and we'll give you some explanations."

I didn't really want to tell Ben the whole story. Telling him all about the guys would mean telling him about The Centre, which would lead to the facts about me. I don't think Ben could handle all that at once. Maybe I could pass the word to Donny on the walk back that we needed to fabricate a bit so as not to get into any more trouble.

Mikey had Ben busy for the moment with a whole pack of stories about X-men so I decided that if ever there were a time to talk to Donny, now would be it. I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned slightly to show he was listening.

"Hey, Donny," I whispered. "About telling Ben the whole story…"

"No worries, Kara. I'm already working on it up here in the good old brain box. Anything else you want me to leave out besides the New York City sewers, The Centre, and the fact that you and Jarod are geniuses?"

"Nope, that's about it. Boy, you're good."

Don a stopped a moment to execute a bow.

"Why, thank you. I pride myself on my deceiving abilities. Remember, girl, I'm a ninja."

12:00 noon

Rural Ohio

Jarod's Ranch house

The living room

"… After our Master Splinter died we really didn't have a reason to stay in New York anymore, so we packed up and hit the road. Not long after that we met Jarod and Kara."

Don was pretty good at what he called his 'ninja deceiving abilities'. The ironic thing was that almost everything he said was true. He made a few alterations to their past like the reason for their Sensei to train them in ninjitsu, and where they really lived, but everything else was true to a fault.

"Our other bros are outside right now, doing ninja stuff. Don't worry-- you won't have to see them for a good long while. Raph's face would be enough to scare the pants off ya!"

As if on cue, Raph came scrambling through the front door and slammed the door shut behind him. He dived for the nearest window and peeked out from behind the curtain.

"What's wrong, Raph?" Donny jumped to his feet and had his Bo staff out before I could blink.

"It's a huge bear! Came lumberin' into the yard right in front of Leo and me!"

"So where's Leo?" Mikey already had a growing grin on his face as he asked the question, thinking of his own answers.

"Climbed up a tree. Said he still wanted to meditate. Not me though, dude. I high tailed it outta there!"

A loud shout was heard from outside and Leo came flying in the door. Sure enough, a large Grizzly bear came galloping after him, but was stopped short by the door that was now locked and bolted. Yet she still pawed at it and growled deep in her throat. I walked over to the window beside Raph and craned my neck to see the front door. A small bear cub came ambling up crying pitifully for his mother.

"Leo, You didn't get between that Grizzly and her cub, did you?" I asked. If he did, he was in big trouble.

"No!" he answered, insulted that I even ask such a question. "The cub walked up to me! When I saw the mom coming Raph went inside and I decided to go to high ground. Little did I know, those things can climb trees!"

"Well, that's why the mom came after you. She thought you were trying to harm her cub."

"So how do we make her go away?" asked Raph. He stayed by the window and eyed the enraged mother skeptically while the rest of us moved back to the center of the room.

"I dunno about that. All I know is why you made her mad."

Ben raised his hand a bit from where he sat. He still seemed pretty shy around intelligent beings not of the same species.

"I think I may have the answers to your problem." He paused to make sure that he had been noticed. "Just spray pepper spray in her eyes. It will startle her and she can't face an enemy blind. She'll run off as soon as she makes sure her cub is following."

"Great!" Mikey jumped up,but stopped suddenly as an after thought. "Jarod,_do_ you have any pepper spray?"

"Well, no, but I'm sure we can whip up something just as affective."

Jarod got up and walked into the kitchen. The coffee must have done its work while we were on our walk and he was back to his normal "average" self.

"The components in pepper spray are much the same as the ingredients found in the spice drawer. Pure Cayenne pepper creates a burning sensation. If you separate the pepper even farther it's even more potent. Mixed with a bit of oil to help it stick to the skin, it would be quite an effective weapon."

"What's Cayenne pepper?" Raph leaned over and whispered to Don.

"It's what Mikey puts on Chili."

"That stuff's supposed to burn?"

"Yeah, remember that time that Mikey put a tablespoon of it in instead of a teaspoon? Imagine eating it pure. Some peppers are so strong that they can burn holes through skin. Cayenne isn't that strong but it does irritate the eyes, noes, throat and lungs, as well as causing some swelling.

Raph nodded his head and straightened up, satisfied.

"Oh."

Donny stepped forward to help Jarod as he rummaged through the cupboards, trying to find all the things they needed. I swear that Donny is almost as into inventing things as Jarod is. I never really enjoyed that kind of stuff, but Don and Jarod were going at it with a force that was to be reckoned with. It didn't surprise me one bit when they popped out of the kitchen ten minutes later with a bottle full of an amber liquid. They must have stolen one of my hair sprays from my room because the bottle was complete with a spray action nozzle. Jarod gave a tense smile as he moved into the room with the concoction.

"Now, who's going to go out there and spray the thing?"

Everyone immediately diverted their attention to something else in the room. Leo was the one who suggested drawing straws.

Raph uttered a curse as he drew the shortest straw from Jarod's hand.

"Alright. Now how do I 'spray' this thing?" he asked as he snatched the bottle from Jarod.

Ben instructed Raph on the procedures to spray the bear.

"Stand about twenty to thirty feet away from her and let her charge you."

"Wait! Whoa! Let her charge me?! Why not just go up and spray her?"

"Because if you do that, she will be unaware that her enemy was the one inflicting the pain. Wait until she charges you then spray, aiming for her eyes. Stay still and let the chemical do its work. Wait for her to leave before you do anything. If she still charges then try again, but if she gets too close then get out of there."

"Let's just get this over with."

The door slammed as Raph walked out of the house, announcing his presence to the fuming bear. We all scampered to the window to watch as the bear left her assault on the front do to investigate the noise. Raph appeared by the side of the house holding the bottle of homemade pepper spray in one hand and a Sai in the other just in case. The enraged female wasted no time in initiating an attack on her enemy, but Raph didn't waste any time either. Before she could react Raph had sprayed the formula in her eyes and it seemed she was already feeling its effects. She pawed at them, sneezed a bit, and shook her head around wildly, trying to get the offending chemical out. She released a roar from deep in her throat and Raph jumped and tensed, ready for a fight, but stood his ground. The baby bear cried more and the mother lumbered off with her babe following. Everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Way to go, Raphael!" Mikey screamed as he hung out the window.

Jarod laughed at Mikey's antics and couldn't resist pushing him the rest of the way out the window. I poked my head out to see Mikey lying on his shell on the porch.

"Help! I'm a turtle and I can't get up!" he joked.

I laughed as he held up his hands to me to help him. I had just grabbed hold of his wrists when I felt someone picking me up. I was dumped out the window right on top of Mike, turning around I was staring right into the grinning face of Raph.

"We'll leave you two love birds alone."

A "What?!?!" was heard from the immediate background and Don came forward.

"What was that?"

"When Leo and I were comin' out of the woods this morning we saw, um…"

"Come join us, Raph!" I said as I pulled him out the window.

He landed on top of me, and Mikey 'oofed!' from the extra weight.

"Hey," he said, his voice muffled by my head in his face.

"Aren't you supposed to be out there meditating and improving your well being or something?"

"If you think I am gonna go get all comatose with a bear out there, you're nuts, Mikey. Besides, I still gotta tell Don what I saw!"

He jumped off me and leapt off the side of the porch.

"Come on, Don!" he yelled as he ran around the side of the house.

Don hopped out the window and followed Raph at lightening speed.

"I wanna hear this!"

I rolled off of Mike, laughing.

"I don't care if he tells Don or not, but I really, _really_ want to go after him just for the fun of it."

"Well, Takara, my dear, I can't let my bro beat up on you! I'm coming too… Purely for protection purposes"

I jumped of the porch just as Raph and Don had and ran in the direction they had taken. Mikey did a handspring off the stonewall and landed in a crouch, a wide grin on his face. I swear he's such a show off… I wish I could do that! We were about to turn the corner to the house when an idea struck me.

"Hold up. I've got an idea."

I ran back inside and came out with two buckets.

"Let's go down the hill to the creek and fill these up. We can give Don and Raph a bit of a surprise."

"I like the way you think, girlie," he snickered and grabbed a bucket from me as we ran down the hill.

"Yeah, dude. Who would've thought-- Mikey the Lovebird."

"Hey, guys!" I called sweetly from behind the corner of the house.

Raph and Don looked up long enough to get a face full of water each. They traded glances and came charging after us, roaring and yelling almost as loud as the bear. I dropped my bucket and sprinted across the yard, laughing my head off, but that was my one mistake because Raph then picked up that very same bucket and disappeared over the hill while Don wrestled Mikey for his. I sprinted around the house and dove in the kitchen door, tearing the house apart looking for more buckets. I ran past Leo and skipped up the stairs to the storage closet coming out with two more large red buckets and blew past Leo again on my way back down. Jarod followed me down the stairs and stopped to converse with a somewhat stunned Leonardo.

"What was all that about?" Leo asked.

"I don't know, but if I know anything about Kara, I know that that look on her face means that she's up to some sort of prank. Care to come watch with me?"

Leo nodded affirmative and walked with Jarod out to the porch where Ben was sitting already watching the escalating battle. Jarod pulled out his Polaroid.

"It's a Kodak moment," he laughed as he started snapping pictures.

On the battlefield buckets had been abandoned and traded for all the mud that the morning's shower had churned up. I felt someone hoist me up and carry me down the hill. My own laughter and the laughter of Raph (who seemed to be carrying me) drowned out my kicking and screaming. He didn't waste time in throwing me in a deeper spot in the creek. I stood up thigh-deep in muddy water to see Raph doubled over in hysterics. I looked like something straight out of a swamp-monster movie!

I took the opportunity of me being in the creek to gather up some mud. In no time at all Raph looked like a great big talking mud-ball. Mikey and Don came bounding over the hill as well, also covered in muck and bits of grass.

Leo appeared at the crest of the mound, dragging a hose behind him. He looked like one of those heroes in the movies that stop at the top of a hill before charging down into the valley on their horses.

"Get to high ground!" I heard Donny yell right before Leo turned the hose on us.

The rest of the day was spent roughhousing outside. At some point during the day Ben went back to the farm, making up the excuse that he told his boss he'd make dinner. By then we had pulled Jarod into our little game of war and he was having the time of his life. Our battle carried on late into the night, until the combatants decided that sleep sounded like a good idea.

8:00 am

Rural Ohio

Jarod's Ranch house

"Howdy, home dwellers!" I heard from my spot on the couch between Mikey and Donny.

"Door's open!" I screamed back to Ben.

Ben waltzed into the living room decked out in what you would call true cowboy attire. He had on boots with spurs (that I was sure were just for show) that had been dulled down to nothing, and a checkered flannel shirt with its top few buttons undone so a bit of his chest showed. His black cowboy hat and large brass belt buckle completed the getup. I had to laugh as I turned around to look at him. He would have been the hero out of an old western movie if not for his all too modern 'cool guy' sunglasses.

"So," he asked shyly, his bashfulness completely clashing with his outfit, "I have the day off. I was thinking… do you guys want to go riding with me?"

"What kind of riding?" asked Leo as he walked into the room sheathing his katanas.

10:00 am

__

Rural Ohio

Ben's Farm

The guys stared wide-eyed as my grin became wider, watching them.

"That's a big horse," Don said as if in a trance.

The other boys nodded dumbly. Ben patted the mare on the shoulder blade and the horse in turn jerked its head up and down as if nodding. The turtles all took a step back and put their hands on their weapons, ready to draw. Ben only laughed and grabbed his horse's halter and brought his head down rubbing his nose with his other hand.

"It's alright. This is Monogahela, Moggy for short. She's a Pinto."

I couldn't help but to laugh again as Mikey cautiously stepped forward to pet the brown mare covered in white patches of fur.

"Good horsy," he cooed. "Aww! You're such a sweet thing!"

I suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, Ben, can I bring Sunflash out?"

"Sure, Kara, just be careful with him. He's been on the jumpy side lately."

I ran into the stables and seconds later came out leading a tan horse with a long black mane. He was still young, seeing as he was born a few days after I first met Ben, but he had defiantly grown into a fine horse.

"He got so big, Ben!" I said as I patted the young colt right behind his ears.

"I think he missed you, Kara. Ever since you left he's been a bad boy, hopping fences and escaping the pastures, throwing trainers and what not."

I laughed and went back into the barn to retrieve Sunflash's tack. Together Ben and I had six horses saddled up in no time. Ben was just tightening the last strap to a saddle and flipping the stirrup back in place as I instructed the guys on how to mount correctly.

"How hard can it be to get on a horse?" asked Raph as he tried to mount his and promptly fell over the other side.

The horse whinnied as if laughing as Raph got up and dusted himself off.

"That's why it's important to swing your far leg over as you get on, so you don't do an instant replay of Raph's face plant."

I demonstrated on Sunflash, which was somewhat amusing, as Sunflash never stopped moving long enough for me to put my foot in the stirrup. Everyone else got on with little difficulty and we were off.

"You know," Mikey said after our horses had been trotting through the field for some time, "Donny always wanted a horse."

"Oh, come on, Mikey. I was like five!"

"You remember though? You saw that My Pretty Pony commercial on TV and you fell in love with the things!"

Mikey was riding between Ben and me and the other boys were in a line behind us. Their voices sounded distant as they carried on the debate.

"I remember that! Splinter found one of those figurines one day while he was out scavenging and brought it home for you. You wouldn't put that thing down!" Leo continued to tease.

"Yeah, until Raph cut the head off when he was playing war with his GI Joe set," Donny pouted.

I laughed as Raph corrected Donny, telling him that it was his Star Wars action figures, not the GI Joe ones.

"Hey look!" I pointed. "There's a groundhog. See 'im over there?"

The guys saw him, but the problem was that Sunflash did too, and apparently he didn't like small critters. He whinnied and reared up, and while I managed to stay in my saddle, Mikey wasn't so lucky. He had Sunflash's older sister, Starfire, who wasn't as well trained as the other horses. Starfire reared up and stomped about, trying to crush the rodent with her hooves. Mikey couldn't hang on and was thrown from her back like a rag doll. He hit his head on a boulder and went limp.

"Mikey!" I screamed as I jumped off my horse.

The groundhog scrambled off to its nearest burrow in fright and the horses calmed.

I was first to Mike's side with Don following as a close second. Don checked his pulse and breathing.

"He seems alright, I think he just got knocked out. He should come around soon-- he has a thick skull."

I put my hand behind his head to hold him up and it came away bloody.

"That could be a problem," Don confirmed. "Help me get him on the horse, Raph. We gotta get back to the house so I can clean this up. He may end up with a concussion."

11:30 am

Rural Ohio

Ben's Farm

Living room

"Put him here on the couch." Ben said as he rushed to get the First-Aid kit for Donny. Mikey groaned as Raph and Leo laid him on the couch.

"We need to wake him."

Mikey groaned again.

"Uhgg! Major wipe out, dudes."

"Hey, Mikey. It's time to wake up now, Bud," Leo said as he gently shook his little brother.

"Go way. I got a huge headache. Whatever it is Raph did it."

"Wake up, shell-for-brains." Raph gently kick Mikey's shell and Mikey opened one eye to glare at him.

"Is this the way you treat wounded turtles, Raph? I'm shocked."

Mike opened both eyes and tried to sit up.

"Whoa! Talk about seeing multiples. There's like twenty Raphs! That's just too much to handle."

Ben came back with the First-Aid kit as Donny pushed Mikey back down into the couch.

"That cut on your head is gonna probably need stitches and I'm pretty sure you have a concussion," Donny said as he threaded the needle.

"Ow! Don! That hurts! You mind being careful with my noggin? It's the only one I got and I kinda want to keep it!"

"Oh, stop whining, Mikey, I'm almost done."

Ben came rushing into the room just as Don was putting in the last stitch.

"Hey, you guys gotta find somewhere to hide! My boss is home!"

My head snapped up from where I was sitting with Mikey. This wasn't good. Ben's boss was nice and all but she didn't take nicely to strangers. I doubted very much that she would be too fond of strangers that weren't human.

"We'll go in the basement. I already called Jarod…. er… _Daddy_, to come pick us up, so he will be over any minute."

"Alright, let's help Mike down to the basement. Careful with his head, though."

Raph helped Mikey to stand and right away he looked like he wanted to toss his cookies. I closed the door to the basement just as I heard greeting his boss, Karen.

I scooted down the steps to see how Mike was doing as soon as I was sure the coast was clear.

"Here," Don held out some Extra-strength Tylenol to Mikey. "Take these. I need to finish fixing up this cut."

"Kara!" Ben yelled down the stairs. "Your dad is here!"

"Ok!" I yelled back. "Tell him I'll be out in a minute after I finish up here!"

A voice with a southern accent was heard farther away up the stairs.

"Kara? I haven't seen you in forever, girl! Come on up here. Don't you be a stranger now."

"Hello, Karen. I'll be right up!" I turned to Leo. "Ok, I'll distract Karen while you all go out the back door down here. Get down once you get out there though, because she likes to walk people to the door."

"Will do, Kara."

I walked up the stairs and Karen greeted me with a big bear hug. She was a mountain of a lady with a strong build, a dark tan, and dirty blonde hair. Jarod was already in the hall talking to her when I came in.

"We really do need you back, Jarod. The vet we have now doesn't know the difference between a donkey and a goat."

"Well, Kara and I are only here on vacation. I don't think they were planning on sending me back to this area but if you want I can come over tomorrow some time and do an unofficial examination."

I craned me head around Karen to look out the window. There I saw the guys scampering over to the awaiting van. I waited until the door closed before I tugged at Jarod's shoulder.

"We really need to be going, Daddy. I wanted to do some yard work before lunch."

Jarod seemed to get the hint and said his good-byes.

"Just call me some time, Karen, and I'll come over."

"Oh, let me walk you two to the door."

She opened the door to let us out, and right way I noticed a problem.

"Jarod, is that a turtle shell in the back of your car? It's awfully big."

Jarod's eye also widened at the sight of the top of a shell showing through one of the back windows.

"Yeah, um… It's a snapper. I got it from the antique store in town. It cost me a small fortune."

I prayed that whoever didn't hide well enough would stay still.

"Come on, Daddy. It was nice seeing you again, Karen!" I called as I made my way to the car.

As I opened the door to the front passenger seat I whispered between gritted teeth.

"No one move an inch. She can see one of you."

I heard someone curse as Jarod entered the car and drove of. We reached a turn in the road and I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Coast is clear, guys."

They all sat up. Raph didn't waste anytime on hitting Don.

"You're getting fatter, Bro."

Mikey held his head between both hands and blinked hard several times.

"Oxygen deprived brain, dudes. Not good."

"What happened?" Jarod asked.

"Mikey tried to play bucking bronco with his horse and whacked his head off a rock," Leo summarized.

"Have you checked for a concussion?"

"Yeah. I think he's got one so to be on the safe side we are going to keep him in bed for a few days."

"A few days?! Oh, come on, Donny! We don't know how long we are going to be here and you want me to sleep the day away! That's cruel unusual punishment."

"You know I've been thinking about that. The farm is the perfect place for you to stay. I wasn't sure before but now that Ben knows about you he can run into town for stuff for you. I need someone to keep the house up for us anyway while we are away. What do you say?"

"Well, Jarod," Leo answered for them all, "it's a very generous offer. We'll have to talk it over."

2:00 pm

Rural Ohio

Jarod's Ranch house

Mikey's room

"Hey, idiot. Wake up!"

Mikey snored on.

"Here, let me try, Raph." Leo bent down and whispered something to Mikey.

"No! Don't you dare! Raaaaph!" Mikey screamed as he shot straight up in bed and immediately regretted it.

"What'd you tell 'im?" asked Raph.

"I told him that you were going to make his nunchucks into firewood if he didn't wake up."

Raph laughed gruffly as Mikey glared at him and reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed his weapons protectively.

"Hey, dumb bell. Don wants to make sure that your head isn't getting to big for your skull."

"No," Don, who was walking by Mike's room, stopped just long enough to correct him. "I told you to make sure that someone wakes Mikey up every two our to make sure he doesn't slip into a coma."

"Well, I'm not a in a coma, so can I go back to sleep now?" whined Mikey.

"Yeah, Mike, knock yourself out," joked Raph as he left followed by Don.

"Don't worry, Leo. You can leave. I think I am going to stay here for awhile."

"Ok, Kara. Just call me if you want a break," he said as he wandered out of the room.

2:00 am

Rural Ohio

Jarod's Ranch house

WARNING: FIRST PERSON: RAPHAEL

I shuffled up the stairs towards my room with a Coke in my hand. As I passed Mikey's room I remembered my promise to Don to wake him up every two hours to make sure he didn't go comatose on us. I cracked open the door to see Kara in a chair next to his head, her body slumped over in slumber. That girl was really something. I could swear on my shell that her and Mikey were meant to be. I just wondered if my brother was too blind to see that she liked him as much as he liked her. I'd beat him out of his shell if he let her go. I lumbered over to where Mikey lay and I quietly lifted up his hand. I aimed carefully and let it fall flat on his face. He woke up with a start and I had to bite back a chuckle.

"I'm still among the vigilant, Bro. No worries," he whispered.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and noticed Kara all but asleep on his lap.

"She never went to bed did she?" he asked.

"She's got the hots for you, Bro. Make the most of it."

Mikey smiled as he looked once again at Kara.

"You really think she likes me, Raph?'

"Yeah, Mike, I do." I took a swing of my Coke and started towards the door. "Night, bro."

"Night."

I moseyed into my room and all but fell onto my bed.

Mikey deserved to be happy. We all deserved to be happy. It's sad that for fifteen long years we saved people from everything imaginable and not one of them seemed to want to see us as anything other than freaks.

I turned on the radio but only half listened to the music as I continued to fume.

We risked our necks day in and day out for people that never even knew we existed. I guess a little thanks would be too much to ask from New Yorkers, though. It seemed as though peace would never come for us. When we were old and could barely walk we would still be fighting against anybody who raised a weapon wishing ill against others. It was insane the way we lived.

The words to the song on the radio became clearer to me. It was a song that I recall Donny listening to once or twice. It was by some guy who never took off his cowboy hat and boots. I listened as the music drifted into the background and his deep voice came filtering into the room.

'We call them cool

__

Those hearts that have no scars to show

The ones that never do let go

And risk the tables being turned

We call them fools

Who have to dance within the flame

Who chance the sorrow and the shame

That always comes with getting burned'

Maybe that's what the world thought of us as. Really we were fools for putting our lives on the line every night when the sun went down.

'But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire

__

'Cause it's not enough just to stand outside the fire

We call them strong

Those who can face this world alone

Who seem to get by on their own

Those who will never take the fall

We call them weak

Who are unable to resist

The slightest chance love might exist

And for that forsake it all

They're so hell-bent on giving, walking a wire

Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire'

Then again, maybe the world wasn't wrong. Maybe it was us. Would we ever really be able to live without our nightly real life drama? Goodness knows I got at Leo's throat when we haven't been in a scuffle for awhile. Would we be able to live with ourselves knowing that we had the power to stop crimes from happening, and instead we just sat at home and did nothing?

__

'Standing outside the fire

Standing outside the fire

Life is not tried, it is merely survived

If you're standing outside the fire

There's this love that is burning

Deep in my soul

Constantly yearning to get out of control

Wanting to fly higher and higher

I can't abide

Standing outside the fire'

No, we probably wouldn't be able to take it. Fighting for the greater good was our life-- I really couldn't see myself as the homey guy that laid around the house all day and read the newspaper. I needed to have some action in my life and that was that. Maybe after everything had cooled down I'd go back to New York one day. I could continue our fight against evil. That's what I need to do.

I yawned as I turned out the light and made a mental note to wake myself up in two hours to scare the pants off Mikey again. Life was good, and I wanted to keep it that way, even if it meant standing inside the fire.

'Standing outside the fire

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Standing outside the fire

Life is not tried, it is merely survived

If you're standing outside the fire

Standing outside the fire

Standing outside the fire

Life is not tried, it is merely survived

If you're standing outside the fire'


End file.
